WJATO: The Doors of the Deep
by tacobowler
Summary: Winston Alexander Jackson is back in the second installment of the Winston Jackson and the Olympians trilogy. This time Alex and company must race against time to find and defeat the forces that seek to open the Doors of the Deep and wipe out the world, Noah style. Will they succeed? Or will evil finally triumph over good? And what part will Percy play? Find out by reading!
1. Nico Ruins Thanksgiving Dinner

A/N: This story is a sequel to WJATO: The Queen's Hero. You will probably need to have read that story in order to understand this story. This is the second installment in the Winston Jackson and the Olympians (WJATO) trilogy. Thank you in advance for reading and reviewing.

The Story "An Immortal's Death" is a prologue to this story. It is not necessary to read that before reading this story, but it may help keep you from getting confused in the early going.

As with _The Queen's Hero_, I am operating in the alternate universe where there is no Heroes of Olympus series. I will use some of my favorite characters from that series, but the Roman camp, Jason and his friends and the events of that series do not exist. This alternate universe also assumes that the Great Prophecy mentioned at the end of the PJO series did not get prophesied, seeing as I have my own Great Prophecy for this trilogy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO), the song "I'm My Own Grandpa," Google, or Shane Ever Collins (a character from another fan fiction by Mrs. D Criss, used with permission).

Chapter 1: Nico Ruins Thanksgiving Dinner

The Holidays are a time of joyful embrace between family members who have long since been separated by miles and years. It is a time to get together and celebrate family; putting aside those long-standing differences that divide so many families; a time to embrace that, which unites us all.

Or at least that's what I'm told.

Unfortunately, I'm a demigod. That's right, I said demigod. Now, I know what you're thinking, that means I'm a son of a god. Let me assure you, that's not the case: it's worse than that. You see my father is the great Percy Jackson, a son of the Greek god Poseidon. You may remember him for his awesome defeat of Kronos a few years ago, or maybe you just remember him for blowing up Mount St. Helens…again. My mother is Annabeth Jackson, a daughter of the Greek goddess Athena. She was the brains of the operation that saved the world way back when. That makes the gods my grandparents.

However, when I was a baby, my mother dedicated me to Hera in order to avoid an Olympic-sized conflict over me (and, I think, to make up for some choice words Mom had used in her youth). Anyway, that made me Hera's property of sorts, and eventually Hera, Athena's mom, adopted me. So, in other words, my maternal grandmother's mom is therefore my great grandmother but also my mother and great aunt (on my Dad's side). Got it? Neither do I. I've been told I'm my own grandpa.

What I do understand is that I have been gifted with the powers of Hera, making me the world's first actual Supermom. Now I know that sounds really lame and all, and I'll admit, I'd like a few more flashy powers. I mean who wouldn't like to be able to call down a bolt of lightning at will? But Hera can be flashy in her own right. In fact I have the ability to - well, we'll get to that later.

Oh, right, a little more about me. I'm 5 foot 2, scrawny but pure muscle and losing some baby fat. I have my father's (and grandfather's) jet-black hair but my eyes are the light gold of Hera. And I am always wearing my Orange camp half-blood t-shirt and blue jeans ever since I gained the right to do so.

The real story begins on Thanksgiving at Camp Half-Blood. Camp Half-Blood is the only safe place in the world for half-bloods. It is protected by a magical boundary that keeps all monsters and certain gods out unless invited. We have an archery arena, a cabin to represent every Olympian god and all the minor gods and goddesses who have claimed children. We also have a horse stable, a lake, and a large swath of woods. Just like any other youth camp. Only, our horse stable has pegasusi, our forest has monsters, our lake has dryads and nymphs. And did I mention we also have a chariot racing track, an armory with real, deadly weapons and a climbing wall that throws lava at us.

At the center of the camp are the Big House and the dining pavilion. The Big House is a two story house which is bright orange and has a large, wrap around porch with plenty of lounging chairs and a table where the director and activities coordinator often play pinochle (extra points if you know what pinochle is without googling it). The house also has an attic where our oracle used to "live" and where we all store our unwanted quest trophies. Our oracle now has a small cave on the edge of the camp while she is here, but she has a life outside of the camp too: she's the Mayor of New York City.

But this was Thanksgiving Day, so the activity in the camp was centered around the Dining Pavilion, a huge concrete slab ringed by Greek style columns. There's no roof because the weather is always good at Camp Half-Blood: the storm spirits can't enter. The wood nymphs had cooked a massive meal with enough turkey to feed an army (or at least Ares), green bean casserole, potatoes cooked seven different ways, cranberry sauce, toast, rolls, pumpkin bread and several vegetables that I didn't know the name for. And then there was a second table. Enjoying the feast were the eleven campers who stay year-round (rather than attending mortal schools), the camp teachers (Chiron as well as my mother and father who stay in the Hera cabin year round), me (home on Thanksgiving Break), and five gods: Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Hermes and our Director Dionysus (who makes it a REAL party). Normally Hades takes the opportunity to commune with his brothers off of Olympus (plus he brings actual Pilgrims!) but he was nowhere to be found. Poseidon was also absent, but he was dealing with an oil spill in the Upper Atlantic. Also Hestia was present, but she was tending the Hearth.

I went and filled my plate, making sure to head to the Hearth to sacrifice to a god. I decided to sacrifice to Zeus today because he was here and could zap me if I didn't. I didn't think Hera would mind, but I threw a second portion in for her. Finally I sat down at the one long table set up in the middle of the pavilion. My father sat down right next to me.

"Hey, how's the year going?" he asked.

"Well, you know," I said. "Good I guess."

"Anything special going on?" he asked.

"Special?" I asked as Hera sat down across from me. My mother, who had been headed towards us, decided to sit on the end of the table, by Hermes.

"You know what I mean," Dad said.

"Sorry, no I don't," I said.

"Oh, yes you do," Hera said. "You're getting closer to my territory."

"Your territory?" I asked.

"First comes Aphrodite, then comes Hera..."

"Okay, okay," I said blushing. "So Airiana and I went on some dates in November."

"Dates huh?" Dad said, smiling and winking at me. Perhaps I should say a little about Airiana. Airiana Wilson is the most beautiful person on the planet (although I'd tell Aphrodite she is more beautiful if I was talking to her). My father and I rescued her from a manticore attack last summer and I took a liking to her immediately. Since my god-parent (a phrase which has a whole other meaning as a demigod) is the goddess of marriage I think it is a soul mate thing. She doesn't always agree. She has grown a little over the course of the year, but she's still close to my height, slender but natural-looking overall build. She has soil brown eyes and flowing, auburn hair that has been known to change shades of red with the seasons. She is the daughter of Persephone, goddess of vegetation and Queen of the Underworld so she has mood swings with the seasons. But it's not what I expected: she actually gets much happier when her mother goes to the Underworld. Persephone has begun to be happy recently to get out of Demeter's grip for those months so I guess that makes sense.

"And what dates they were too," Mr. D. said, taking up a seat next to me. I scooted closer to Dad. "Great stuff kid, if I do say so myself." There are points in this world where you are just plain grossed out, and realizing that one of these gods can see you at all times, particularly the private times is one of those points. Especially Mr. D.

"That's my boy," Dad said, winking at Hera while biting a turkey leg.

"I do not know what old Seaweed sees in you," Hera said to him. "If Poseidon didn't like you, I'd turn you into a cow, kill you and make a shish-ca-bob."

"It's the family resemblance," Mr. D. said. Dad just nudged me.

"So, how are the renovations going on Olympus," Dad asked. My mother is the official architect of Olympus. She was hired by the gods to repair the mountain city after the Second Titan War, during which my father feebly fought Kronos while he destroyed the city. Technically, she was done 15 years ago, but each of the gods has had her busy renovating their temples. She doesn't mind though. I'm pretty sure that when she dies, she'll be sent back to Olympus to keep working and they'll call it Elysium.

"Well, your wife needs to get over to my temple eventually," Hera began, "I've got this really great idea for the fountain out-"

She was cut off suddenly by a ripping and tearing noise from the cabin area. Everyone looked out, but all we could see was an encroaching cloud of dust. Then everyone gasped. A man was stumbling out of the cloud. He was wearing a black leather jacket and black jeans with black shoes. He had black, spiked hair that was unusually untidy. His clothes were ripped and stained with blood, both dried and fresh. He ran from the cloud and tripped, bouncing back up in no time at all and continuing to run in our direction. That was when I saw the sword. It was drawn and jet black Stygian Iron with silver ingrained. The sword belonged to Nico Di Angelo. And whatever was making _him _run that scared could not be good at all.

I bounced from my seat and reached into my pocket. My own weapon, _Sabertooth_, was made from Celestial Bronze. It was actually two weapons. I carried it around in the form of a toothpick of bronze, but if I turn it in my hand it becomes a gladius: a two and a half foot double-edged blade of monster fighting machine. If I throw the toothpick instead, it grows to a four-foot long javelin. Too bad it's difficult to aim.

I was soon flanked by my father and mother. My father pulled a ballpoint pen from his pocket and uncapped it; turning it into his sword _Riptide_,which was a three and a half foot Celestial Bronze sword engraved with rolling tides. My mother pulled a small Celestial Bronze knife. In case you're wondering, Celestial Bronze is one of the few metals that can hurt monsters. Stygian Iron is another. I saw a handsome little 10-year-old son of Zeus named Jet Richards set up on the far edge and knock an arrow. He looked to me like he was waiting for instructions. I also heard Jim Davis, head of the Ares Cabin, begin to take charge of the other campers. He knew better than to mess with the Jacksons though.

A shape emerged from the dust cloud as Nico was about half way across the field. I had seen a hell hound last summer and a few in the Underworld when I went there (long story), but never one as large as this. It was at least 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It pounced out of the dust and covered 20 feet immediately. Nico fell over from the earthshaking landing, but he got back up very quickly. If we didn't do something quick, it would kill Nico.

I heard Jet's bow twang as he released the arrow and knocked another. The arrow found it's mark, but the hellhound didn't appear to feel it.

"I don't think swords are going to do much against that," Dad said. I was two steps ahead of him. I said a quick prayer to Apollo for help, looked to see if he answered it, which he did with a wink, and threw my toothpick. It grew to javelin form as Jet unloaded his third arrow and the weapon floated effortlessly into the hellhound's eye socket. Jet's arrow hit his open mouth.

He seemed to feel that at least, but the weapons didn't stop it, they only made him angry. He got ready to pounce again as Nico passed the lake, headed to the Big House. That's when I got the idea, but my mother had it a few seconds before me.

"Jet," she said. "The lake!"

Comprehension dawned on Jet's face and he dropped the bow. He took one look at Zeus before turning and facing the battle.

The dog pounced and landed in the lake, dispersing half the water and earning a few curses from the fleeing nymphs. Jet stuck out his hand and the air became significantly thicker. Then a massive lightning bolt struck from the air into the lake, shaking the pavilion and breaking the attic windows in the Big House with its power. The hellhound glowed from the electricity and wailed in pain before disintegrating into monster dust.

The blast had knocked Nico down and also cleared the original cloud of dust he had come in, revealing a massive chasm in the ground near the center of the cabins. Nico turned and stretched his own hand out before closing it into a fist. The chasm shuddered and crashed in on itself just as another massive paw was beginning to crawl its way out. Then Nico passed out.

Nico woke a few days later, during which time my father had retrieved _Sabertooth _from the lake, fresh with waterproof makeup from the nymphs. It took twelve hours to get it off. Nico ordered Chiron to call a meeting and, therefore, I found myself sitting next to the ping-pong table in the Big House living room with Nico, my Dad, Chiron, my Mother, Jet, Jim and the Hypno councilor Sarah Gray who was sleeping. Nico was doing much better thanks to the daily ambrosia.

"Nico has important news," Chiron said once we all got settled and Sarah was awake.

"I was in the Underworld, Thanksgiving night," Nico began. "We were preparing to come up for the meal when there was a rumbling from the Styx. Dad sent some soldiers to investigate. Luckily one of them got to the horn and sent warning. The army had breached the walls by the time we got down there, but it wouldn't have mattered much if we were quicker."

"Wait," I said. "What army?"

"Chris' army," Nico said. "My brother Christopher Nash has been recruiting. He's slowly taken the worst of the souls from the fields of punishment and placed the newly dead in their place to fool the Kindly Ones."

"How can he do that?" my mother asked.

"The Sword," Chiron said. "Persephone was foolish to make it. Christopher stole the Sword of Hades last summer and has been using it ever since. The sword has a key to the Underworld embedded in it, enabling it to send a soul to the Underworld or call one from it."

"Apparently," Nico continued Chiron's thought, "He infiltrated DOA Recording studios a month ago, convincing Charon that he was just a manifestation of my father. He then used the sword to perform the switches when Charon had left with full ferries. It seemed that most of the souls were willing to go to the fields of punishment to get out of that room. They were promised freedom after Chris took control, a promise he kept if he was wise.

"Originally, I thought we might have a chance. We held up pretty good, Dad's personal army against Christopher's untrained and rusty fighters. Shane was there with me. She caused the Styx to swallow the back third of his army. She was bringing the river back on the rest of them when..." Nico trailed off. Shane Ever Collins was his wife and a daughter of Poseidon. I could only imagine what happened, and it was confirmed after Nico regained his composure. "Two arrows found their mark in her chest." More silence as Nico pursed his lips. I had always wondered what could possibly get Nico to cry; now I knew. "I should be dead too. But, I mean, we had two gods, including Persephone, so a mortal's attack shouldn't have stood a chance," he said, his anger beginning to show. "We should have had Charon too, but the coward saw the army crossing behind him and ran past us toward the castle. I don't know what happened to him. But the gods never took their true form. The few chances I could, I took a glimpse at my father. He was glowing, but it wasn't his true form. Almost like something was holding him back. And he wasn't moving at god-like speed either. The ground at his feet was flowing with Ichor fresh from wounds inflicted by mere mortals." Ichor is the golden blood of immortals if you didn't know.

"What could cause that to happen?" my mother asked.

"I'm not sure," Nico said. "All I saw was one group that wasn't fighting. They were holding some kind of white device and were being guarded by about fifty spirits. Still, we could have won if we could have gotten to them. I'm convinced that device slowed my father down and prevented him from taking his true, immortal form."

"Do you know who the group was with?" Chiron asked.

"No, I didn't get a good look at them," Nico said. "I was too busy fighting."

"I can take a good guess," I said. Everyone looked at me. "Last summer I had dreams in which I heard Christopher planning with a spirit to take over Olympus. In one of the dreams, Daedalus pledged his loyalty to the group. I think it is him. Who else could even dream of producing a device to defeat a god?"

Silence met this statement, indicating that everyone agreed. My mother sat in silence and I knew why. I had just indicted her hero and she couldn't defend him. I had a feeling I'd find laptop parts all over Hera's cabin tonight.

"Nico, you said you were winning," Jim Davis said. "What happened to turn the tide?"

"Christopher happened," Nico said. "He had spent most of the battle fighting Persephone, who was masterfully using her power over vegetation to stop his sword from hitting her. A couple of times I even thought she'd captured it. But eventually, he surprised her and nicked her side. One little cut and it was enough. Her howl of pain shook the cavern. She rose from the ground and began to glow. Then she turned into fine yellow dust and flew off to Tartarus.

"My father bellowed in rage and found some new life, but he was too late. I fought through a couple of Chris's minions just in time to see him enter Tartarus' cave. Next thing I knew, all sorts of the worst creatures I had heard about were flying toward me and I panicked. I turned and ran toward my Dad's castle. One of the hell hounds he'd released followed me. I did the only thing I could, I stabbed my sword into the ground and created a pathway through the earth to Camp. The dog followed me and...well, you know the rest of the story I guess."

Everyone leaned back and just looked at each other.

Finally, Chiron said "Do you know the fate of Hades?"

"No," Nico said. "But he was weak. Maybe he got to his chariot, maybe not. I'm not holding my breath though. Chris got Persephone without the monsters of Tartarus. Hades wouldn't stand a chance alone."

"You have done well, Nico," Chiron said.

"I should have died defending my father," Nico said. "It's what a hero would do."

"Because you escaped, we now know what happened. This is a great advantage. Again, you have done well," Chiron said.

"What could be gained by this?" Jet asked. "If the goal is Olympus, it seems like a massive waste of life."

"A lot can be gained," Nico said. "With Dad out of the way, Chris controls the Underworld. He'll just regrow all of the dead he lost."

"And remember the War," Percy said. "Hades showed up right outside Olympus. It would be impossible to defend the mountain for us."

"_Heroes look on as Olympus falls..._," I said, recalling the Great Prophecy. I'll tell you more about that later. "How can we fight if Chris can just show up behind our lines?"

"A problem, but not the problem," my mother said.

"What could possibly be worse than someone having access to Olympus with a god-defeating machine?" Jim Davis asked.

"The real reason he would attack Hades," my mother said.

"What's that?" Jet asked. "What else could there be?"

"Because the throne...well, Chiron, you'd know more," she said.

Chiron nodded. "When the metaphysical, big G God created the universe, He established governors over all the planets to ensure that the worlds ran properly. The governors had to answer to Him for their actions, but they were allowed to do what they saw fit. He created Ouranos to govern this world."

"Then Kronos killed him," I said.

"Don't say the name," Chiron said as thunder rolled overhead. "But yes, my father, the Lord of Time, killed him. But an ancient law stipulates that there must always be someone on the throne. Therefore, he sat on his father's throne and took it over. He moved it to Mount Orthys. Then Zeus defeated him and again took over as governor of the Earth."

"But Zeus' throne is on Olympus, why attack the Underworld?" I asked.

"Because Zeus' throne is not the only one to act like that," my mother said. "Remember that after the defeat of the Lord of Time; Zeus, Poseidon and Hades cast lots for their respective domains. That implies that the domains existed."

"Every throne wants to be filled," Chiron said. "So once someone dies, the first person alive to sit on the throne gains its power. Hades would make sense considering his is the strongest true seat of power outside of Olympus."

"So wait," Percy said. "Once Chris sits on Hades' throne he becomes god of the Underworld? Like with a true immortal form and everything?"

"Let's hope he tries it," Chiron said.

"Why?" my mother asked.

"Because it would work," Chiron said. "And it would vaporize anything around him and himself. He is _Master _of the Underworld, but not a god. Only Zeus' throne has the power to make a mortal immortal. He will be god-like though, with every power necessary to do the job except immortality. That power is why he would attack the Underworld now."

"So, in other words, he's taking Hades place," Jet said.

"In a nutshell, yes," Chiron said.

"And if he dies before capturing Zeus' throne?" Jet asked some hope in his voice.

"Then the next person alive to sit on Hades' throne would become Master of the Underworld," Chiron said. "Let us hope that will be Nico."

"So he controls Death?" Jim asked. "His army can't die?"

"No, Death is something completely different," Nico said. "Hopefully Death can avoid Chris's forces. But he'd be able to summon them back pretty quickly."

"What should we do?" I asked.

"It's already been done," Chiron said. "I've called an emergency meeting of the gods on Olympus. Nico, you will need to come with me. I urge anyone of you willing to fight for Olympus to follow me as well." Chiron got up onto his four horse legs and walked out the door. Everyone followed.


	2. Olympian Council Lite

A/N: I apologize for not posting last week. I was moving and did not have internet connection.

Many thanks to princessariellover876 for the review and to HERMES CHAMPION for following and favoriting the story.

Enjoy.

I do not own PJ, Smart Car, Clapper, Nintendo,

Chapter 2: Olympian Council Lite

After spending a week in Camp Half-Blood, I had forgotten that being winter meant it was cold outside. After the 14 humans and Chiron had pilled into the camp delivery van, Argus drove us out of the camp toward Olympus. The camp is magically protected against unwanted weather, but as soon as we passed Thalia's Pine, we were subject to whatever the gods convinced Aeolus to give New York. In November, that is typically very cold and we wear t-shirts at camp...

A little about Olympus. Of course, there is a mountain in Greece named Mount Olympus. That's not where we were going. The gods moved with the center of Western Civilization and the city of the gods moved with them: Rome, Germany, Spain, England and the United States. You might expect that Olympus would therefore be in (or rather above) Washington D.C. but you'd be wrong. Western Civilization is centered around the powerful economy of the US and thus the mountaintop (literally) city of the gods floats 600 stories over New York City. The entrance is in the Empire State Building.

It took almost an hour to weave our way across Manhattan Island and arrive outside the Empire State Building. Chiron indicated that the traffic was extremely unusual. Normally Hermes moves traffic to help us get there faster. This time it was almost like Hermes was holding us up. It was not a good sign.

I don't know what we looked like when we filed out of the car (at least Chiron was in his mortal world wheelchair form), but when we entered the building itself someone offered "the field trip" a ride with them on the elevator. I said sure, they could come with us but Chiron slapped me and told them we'd wait. I really wanted to find out what the mist made Olympus look like. The mist is something that makes mortals see normal things when non-normal things are around them. For instance, it will turn a magical sword into a golf club or a shotgun and a 3000 pound monster into Smart car.

Chiron got what he needed from the security guard and we all piled into the elevator when it returned. It rose steadily up and up until the beeping stopped and we were left with nothing but the soft music coming from the speakers.

"You'd think Annabeth would have changed this music," Dad said next to me.

"What do you think would cause Hermes to hold us up in traffic?" I asked, refusing to enter that subject.

"I can think of many things and I'm sure Annabeth can think of thousands more, but I promise you none of them are good," Percy continued. "I'm just hoping it's something like their upset at being summoned by someone as low in importance as Chiron. If it has to do with the Great Prophecy..."

The Great Prophecy is a sort of giant prophecy. We get prophecies when we go on quests, but they're different. There is always only one Great Prophecy, which deals with large, catastrophic events. The last Great Prophecy was about the Second Titan War, which my father somehow won. Soon after, a new Great Prophecy was spoken:

_New rulers matched up as one to one_

_Heroes discover what's been undone._

_Destruction reaches the hallowed halls,_

_Heroes look on as Olympus falls;_

_Fight from without and fight from within, _

_All start anew; returning again_

The line which got the most focus was the fourth, the one prophecying the fall of Olympus. The previous Great Prophecy suggested that the fate of Olympus rested on the battle, but never explicitly said Olympus would fall. We all know that prophecies have double meanings, but no one, not even Athena, has been able to think of one here. It's scary.

The elevator beeped again and the doors opened to my favorite place in the world. I didn't get to visit Olympus all that often before last summer. I was technically mortal and therefore had to make sure that few gods were present. This was the first time I'd gotten to visit when it was bustling with activity.

We crossed a thin walkway to the main mountain. Olympus extended before us, a huge mountaintop floating in the sky. Temples and pavilions extended from huge avenues which snaked up the mountain. The temples began small, representing the minor gods and goddesses and got progressively bigger as they rose toward the ancient council room. There was an entire rainbow of colors throughout (literally on Iris' temple) and each temple had a statue either inside or out front. Some of the statues showed the god standing regally. Others, particularly the nastiest minor gods showed them in incredibly unflattering poses. I'm sure they complained, but Mom's got Athena on her side so they can't do much. There was a great commotion as all present were running around the market buying and selling. Still, there was an ominous tenseness in the air. The temples for the twelve Olympians formed a ring around the council room at the top of the mountain. They were eerily quiet. The council room and most of the minor gods' temples looked Greek, but not all the temples. Hephaestus had a skyscraper/sweatshop for a temple, Hermes' looked like a five-star hotel, Aphrodite's was a huge salon. Only Zeus, Hera and Demeter had temples that looked like they belonged in ancient Greece.

Chiron led the group as we walked through a city park that extended in between temples on our way to the council. Mr. D stood in the huge, double doorway in kaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. I'm sure that the only reason he wasn't ten feet tall was that the cup holding his Diet Coke wouldn't grow with him.

"Hi," Mr. D. said when Chiron walked up to him.

"Did you get my message?" Chiron asked.

"No," Mr. D. said. "Zeus did. Old Dad's not very happy with you."

"He knows I wouldn't call a meeting without a really good reason," Chiron said.

"That's true. Doesn't mean he's happy," Mr. D. said.

"Can we get started then?" Chiron asked.

Mr. D. sipped his drink. "No," he said.

"Why not?" Chiron asked.

"Because we're not all here yet," Mr. D. said. "We can't just drop everything for a _minor _immortal." He put extra emphasis on the word minor.

"You can be in thousands of places at once. Part of you can be here for this," Chiron said. Mr. D. only smiled.

"Ah, demigods!" a male voice said behind us. I turned around to see Hermes walking up to us in a full toga. It was not pretty. "We're having a little trouble. I'm afraid we can't hold a full meeting of the council today. I've got rooms set aside for each of you in my temple. Please follow me. Chiron, Dionysus will take you to see The Big Guy now. He's very interested in your news."

"Nico, come with us," Chiron said.

"I'm afraid Nico must come with me," Hermes said.

"I wasn't asking," Chiron said. "Zeus wants to know what this is about and only Nico can truly tell him." Chiron put his arm around Nico and walked into the council room without waiting for a reply. Hermes turned and began leading us toward his temple. I caught up.

"What's going on?" I asked. My father was hot on my heels.

"I can't say here," Hermes said. A snake appeared on the backpack he was wearing. _If you bring a rat, we'll meet you in your room_, George the snake said. George will do anything for a rat.

"Where am I supposed to get a rat on Olympus?" I asked.

Hermes just smiled. "They're everywhere," he said. He sped up and left us behind.

* * *

Our rooms were decked out! Each room was actually two rooms, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. The bedroom had a massive, double king bed with satin sheets, a 36" television with Olympus Cable (awesome programing), a thermostat which controlled the temperature down to the hundredth of a degree (actually, there was one of these in each room), and a clapper (lest you have to get out of bed). The bathroom was huge with a bathtub big enough to fit President Taft, a shower with options for multicolored water and bubbles, a bidet, a massage toilet (I'm not quite sure why we would want this) a double sink with triple mirror and heat lamp.

Through the mini-kitchen was the living room. A 102 inch flatscreen television dominated one wall with a seven seat corner couch across the room. Each seat in the couch had a recliner option and there were four ottomans floating around the room. There was a Not-So-Mini-Minibar (trademarked by Martha the snake) with a personal bartender robot (He'll make sure you don't drink too much ambrosia) and one of every gaming console in the world. Even an old NES. But the highlight of the room was definitely the optional disco ball.

I was enjoying none of it: I was searching for a rat. And Olympus hires the best cleaning harpies in the world, which makes finding a rat impossible. But if anyone could, it was probably me. I'd found an ability to make dogs and cats immensely comfortable around me by focusing on having a calm mind myself. I hoped it would work on any animal. I sat on an ottoman and focused on being as calm as I could. I could feel it working: if there was a rat in the hotel, it would come to me.

The dust on my shoes flew into the air and circled into the shape of a rat. Suddenly, it grew fur and squeaked. It started to run, stopped, turned and walked over to me. I picked it up tenderly.

Someone knocked on my door. I walked to open it, but it opened on its own. Hermes and my father walked in.

"You really didn't expect to find a rat here did you?" Hermes said as he closed the door.

"Did you do that?" I asked.

_Give me the rat_, George said.

_Say please,_ Martha scolded.

"Quiet or I'll turn you into pillbox mode," Hermes said. "Yes, I did that."

"How?" I asked.

"I'm a god," he said shrugging. "I feel I owe you both an explanation for our actions earlier. I'm sorry I couldn't talk about it outside of my temple. If there is one place where us gods respect each other's privacy it's our temples. Well, at least the ones on Olympus.

"We have heard your Great Prophecy as well and we know that an invasion is coming. We also know this invasion has a great possibility of success. We believe that this invasion will come from demigods."

"We could have told you that," I said rather stupidly. Dad flinched.

"Yes," Hermes said calmly. "But we don't know who those demigods will be. There's a reason you were met by the two gods who actually interact with mortals in our daily lives."

"Zeus suspects us?" Dad asked unbelievingly.

"No," Hermes said. "He suspects Chiron."

"What?!" Dad and I said at the same time. "Chiron would never do that!" I finished.

"I know that," Hermes said. "And Dionysus knows that too. Chiron is happy training demigods and wouldn't want the power and responsibility involved in Zeus' job. But we only know that because we interact with him regularly. But in Zeus' mind, Chiron is still a son of Kronos: a rival. And he's not really immortal: if no one needs training, he will die.

"Zeus wasn't acting against Chiron until Thanksgiving. When the gods were off Olympus, in other words weaker, there was an attack that nearly happened at the camp Chiron leads. Zeus wasn't happy with him. Now, Chiron is trying to call all the gods together. Further, when he showed up to this meeting, he is bringing the head counselors, or the strongest demigod, for every cabin including Hera's."

"_New rulers matched up as one to one_," Dad said.

"But we're not here to start a rebellion!" I said. "We're here to tell you who will! We're the second line: _Heroes discover what's been undone._"

"I believe you," Hermes said. "And I hope Nico can convince Zeus to change his mind."

_Maybe he'll turn Nico into a rat_ George said.

_Maybe he'll turn you into a rat, George _Martha replied.

"Shut it," Hermes said.

"What happens if Nico fails to change Zeus' mind?" Dad asked.

Hermes sighed. "Then, none of you will leave this mountain alive."

* * *

I didn't sleep well that night.

I know, shocking. But I don't tend to sleep too well when I'm told I might die by an act of the gods at any moment. But I woke up in the morning and I thought that was a good sign. I survived walking to breakfast, which I thought was even better.

I filled my plate from the gigantic, two tier buffet and sat with my mother and father to eat.

"I hear Hermes scared you a little last night," Mom said.

"No," I said. She looked at me skeptically. "A little," I corrected.

"I remember the first time I was threatened by the gods," Mom started.

"Oh gods, Mom, stop," I said. Dad was no longer able to hold his laughter in at this point.

"What do you plan to do son?" he asked when he finally stopped laughing.

"Well, Hermes said Zeus can't do anything to me in his temple right?" I asked.

Dad smiled. "True, but Zeus can order Hermes to do it," he said. "Hermes may like you but he won't disobey Zeus for a mortal."

"Thanks Dad," I said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Realize something," Dad said.

"What?" I asked.

"That you entered a new world when you were claimed," Mom said. "The gods are always watching and you're always under threat of divine destruction. You have only two options: hide or continue. If you hide, you might be safer but you'll never be truly safe and you won't be a hero."

"So you want me to continue on," I said.

"Well if you continue, you'll have no guarantee of either safety or being a hero," Mom said.

"But if you hide, you'll disappoint Hera and she'll kill you herself," Dad said. "So continuing on and living is really your only hope of either."

* * *

I decided to leave Hermes' temple and walk up the mountain when the meeting we had all been waiting for was finally called. As soon as I entered the council room I realized we'd been the last notified of the meeting. The council room was the one thing on Olympus that my Mother had not been allowed to design. The gods had rebuilt the chamber to look almost exactly as my father had described it. Zeus and Hera sat upon their thrones at the far end of the hall, each about ten feet tall. The male thrones extended to their left, each throne resembling the respective god's taste. The female thrones extended to their right. Each line of thrones was perpendicular to Zeus and Hera, creating a kind of rectangle. The minor gods thrones were present but unoccupied.

In the middle of this rectangle, Chiron stood at attention facing Zeus. He was wearing his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and was in full centaur form. Nico stood next to him looking disinterested. As each of us demigods arrived, we walked up and joined them. I waved to Hermes as I walked up. He only nodded in acknowledgement.

"Why aren't we starting?" I asked when I realized that all the demigods were present.

"My Dad's not here," Percy said. His face betrayed his worry.

"Lord Zeus," Chiron said. "We are present and are ready to give our warning to this council."

"Chiron," Zeus said. His tone was cold, but he did not blast us, which was good. "The council is not yet present. Have patience, _little_ one." He put extra emphasis on the word "little."

"My apologies, I had assumed Poseidon was still working on the oil spill," Chiron said. "We will, of course wait."

"Lord Hermes, do you have any news?" Zeus asked.

"No, Lord Zeus," Hermes said. "I have heard nothing from Poseidon since yesterday."

_Phone call for you sir_, Martha said. This earned a nasty look from Zeus.

"Didn't I put you on silent?" Hermes asked as he brought his caduceus up.

_It's of extreme importance sir. From Poseidon. I believed it relevant_, Martha defended herself. The staff with George and Martha slithering around it morphed into a smartphone with the snakes slithering around the back cover. George winked at me before Hermes brought the phone-caduceus to his ear.

Hermes' face paled immediately, his eyes wide in what could only be described as fear. He brought the phone down in slow motion, his eyes fixed on my father. After what seemed like an eternity, he said "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, step forward."

Everyone looked at my dad like he was about to explode, but he handled it like it happened all the time. Which it kind of did. He stepped forward and stood at the foot of Hermes' throne. "Stretch out your right hand," Hermes said. I saw Zeus tense and creep to the edge of his throne, but he didn't speak.

An audible gasp emitted throughout the room as a green light appeared in my Dad's hand. The light solidified and extended into a long spear. The end of the spear split into three prongs before the light became solid and gold with pearls where the spear split. It was the Trident of Poseidon, his symbol of power.

"Perseus Jackson, Lord Poseidon gives you his power. You are temporary Lord of the Sea," Hermes said.

"What?" my Dad said. Mom rolled her eyes: Dad always said the right things.

"Poseidon has conferred upon you all of his powers except immortality," Chiron said, unable to hide the awe in his voice. "In effect, you are the Lord of the Sea. It is a power all gods have, but they never use it."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Because in giving you their powers, they lose them," Chiron said.

"What reason did Poseidon give for this betrayal?" Zeus asked with fire on his voice.

"Betrayal?" Athena asked. "Poseidon has been the most loyal of us for centuries. He was well within his rights to do this. He would never betray this council."

"He knows that a demigod rebellion is coming," Zeus said. "Now he has armed one. I want to know the reason!"

"If you would simply follow my plan, you wouldn't need to worry," Athena said.

"Enough!" Zeus said. "I've heard enough of your plan!" Athena sat back in her throne, angry but holding her tongue.

"He did give a reason," Hermes said slightly above a whisper. "He was killed."

"What?" the whole council exclaimed together.

"He was called back to his palace for an urgent meeting and while he was there it was attacked by something that he couldn't defeat. He believed it would kill him," Hermes explained.

"What could kill a god?" Ares asked.

"We believe we may be able to answer that," Chiron said. He was way braver than me.

Zeus stared at Chiron during the silence that followed. "Perhaps we should hear them out?" Hera asked more than said.

Zeus leaned back and motioned to Poseidon's, no Percy's, throne. "Sit, Perseus Jackson, _Substitute _Lord of the Sea." Percy did so, somehow figuring out how to grow to ten feet tall. "The council is convened," Zeus said as soon as my Dad sat down. "What information do you bring, Chiron?"

Chiron and Nico summed up the attack on the Underworld. "It is my belief that this same phenomenon attacked Poseidon," Chiron finished.

"But how can anything kill a god?" Aphrodite asked. She seemed particularly worried about it.

"The Sword of Hades," Percy said before Chiron could speak. "I was there as it was being made. The Sword has a key to the Underworld inside of it. Therefore, with just a scratch of the blade, it has the power to lock any soul, I repeat _any _soul, in Tartarus. It does severe damage but doesn't really kill a god anymore than Zeus killed Kronos."

Thunder rolled in the sky. "Don't say his name here," Zeus said.

"Why would Hades create such a weapon?" Athena asked.

"Hades didn't want to," Percy said. "Persephone did it against his orders. Now they have both suffered the consequences, and from the sound of it Poseidon has as well. Tartarus is a nasty place indeed."

"You'd know all about Tartarus wouldn't you, boy?" Ares asked.

"Not as much as I would if you'd had your way," Percy said in an equally vicious tone.

"Boy, your daddy ain't around anymore to protect you. Don't overstep your bounds," Ares warned. His eyes were beginning to burn through his sunglasses.

"You know last time a war started you were behind it all. Why aren't we investigating you?" Percy asked without getting up from the throne.

"You want to fight boy?" Ares asked, rising to his full height.

"Wanting another cut on that ankle?" Percy asked without rising. "I wonder how much more pain a trident would cause."

"ENOUGH!" Hera said rising to her feet. The action caused a gasp from the council and made Ares sit down, but he didn't remove his gaze from Percy.

"This bickering is not helping us," Hera said, returning to her seat. "We need to focus on the ramifications and our response. My son has a comment to that effect."

I stood stunned, unsure how Hera had known what I was thinking, but I decided to voice it anyway. Everyone was staring at me so I needed something. "Well, council of, um, gods and such, earlier Nico said there was a rift within the Underworld. That some spirits followed Hades and others followed the person holding the symbol of power - "

"Christopher," Nico interrupted.

"Right. I was wondering if the same thing could happen in the Sea now that Poseidon is, presumably, locked in Tartarus. What consequences could this action have?" I finished with Hera beaming at me. Hestia also winked approvingly from the hearth in the middle of the chamber.

"A good question," Athena said. "It is puzzling indeed why one of Poseidon's lieutenants was not picked over this demigod."

"Well, we all know why that oaf Tyson wasn't picked," Ares said. Both Percy and Hephaestus rose at that but were persuaded by Hera to sit back down.

"But why wasn't Triton picked?" Athena asked. "He was the heir to the Sea."

"You never ask a question like that without already having an answer," Mr. D. said almost sarchasitcally.

Athena smiled. "It indicates to me that Triton is behind it," she said. "Poseidon gave Percy his powers to set him against Triton who was taking the Throne of the Sea by force. He wanted to create that rift Winston Alexander talked about."

Silence followed Athena's comments as it always did.

"Is there any who can find fault in Athena's comments?" Hera finally asked. No one said anything.

"Then it remains what to do about the greatest consequence of Triton taking over," Zeus said.

"What's that?" Ares asked. He appeared interested for the first time since the Tyson comment.

"The Flood," Zeus said. The gods all murmured in recognition except Percy who looked as confused as us demigods.

"Like, Noah's Flood?" Dad finally asked. He was finally looking like my Dad again.

"Yes," Zeus said. "Long ago, I became angry at the inhabitants of this world. I ordered a flood to wipe them out. As governor of this world, I have the authority to do that. I made it rain upon the earth for forty days and Poseidon brought forth the waters from under the earth, which really caused most of the flood. One man's family survived. You know this man as Noah. The Greeks called him Deucalion.

"After the flood, my master the metaphysical God demanded an account for my actions. He was not happy with the flood. He sent an archangel named Selaphiel with a bow to the earth and a demand. He ordered a door be created to drain the floodwaters under the earth. The bow, which could only be fired once, would then be fired upon the doors to seal them forever. You refer to this bow as the rainbow."

"What's the problem then?" Percy asked.

Zeus smiled. "We never locked the door," he said. "Selaphiel's job is to pray unceasingly. He found the world a wonderful, disturbance free, place to do that. I assured Selaphiel that the flood would never happen again and he retreated to a small, desert mountain in the East. Though, he did make sure to set up a reflection of the rainbow to remind us of our promise."

"You disobeyed the Metaphysical?" Chiron asked.

"The order was not really needed," Zeus said. "Our power comes from our kingdoms, that is why Pan died. When the flood happened, the Sea and the Underworld, my two greatest rivals, grew astronomically. Meanwhile, my kingdom remained stagnant while the other Olympians all fell to almost nothing. With the world flooded, there is no agriculture, marriage, love, machinery, hearth, wisdom or anything else. The other Olympians would keep me in check; I didn't need to lock the door. However, we could use it as a weapon against our enemies."

"Poseidon was the only one who knew where the door was," Athena said. "Now it is out of our control."

"Wrong," Zeus said. "I didn't want Poseidon to have that kind of power. I ordered someone else to make the door and ensure it was not in Poseidon's kingdom."

"Who?" Athena asked.

"Triton," Zeus said. "Now the Sea and the Underworld are in our enemies hands and the Door of the Deep has become the greatest weapon against us. Now, it must be locked."

"None of you know where it is?" Percy asked.

"No," Hera said for the group.

"Then a Quest is in order," he said. "I nominate my son to lead it."

"Hey!" Ares said before the other gods could interject. "My son, Jim Davis is the perfect selection for this quest!"

A uproar began as each of the gods nominated their own child. Even Artemis suggested that Thalia lead the quest.

"Fellow Olympians!" Athena shouted, rising to her feet. The room quieted. "As much as we would all like to have our child lead this quest, its importance cannot be underestimated. For this quest, we must set aside allegiance and choose by quality. Personally, I agree with Artemis; Thalia's tracking skills will be invaluable."

"There's only one problem," I said without thinking. I realized my mistake and apologized.

"It is the curse of having a share of my wisdom, grandson," Athena said. Aphrodite groaned.

"Speak, demigod," Zeus said.

"Well, this quest will involve taking a symbol of power from an archangel and crossing an unknown number of realms. As good as Thalia is, she is no longer a demigod. She could not accomplish this quest," I said quickly.

Silence followed, which I wasn't sure was a good thing.

"Perhaps Winston should lead this quest after-all," Mr. D. said. He was the last person I expected to speak up. "Assuming there is a rift in the Sea, as the grandson of Poseidon, he may be able to win the allegiance of dryads along the way. And he has the powers of Hera, which could help diffuse tense situations, particularly with Selaphiel."

"I agree," Aphrodite said.

"Do any oppose?" Zeus asked. No one spoke up. "Then it is settled. Winston Alexander Jackson will lead the quest. We are adjourned."


	3. Back to School

A/N: Sorry for not getting this up on Thursday. I had a sudden project at work. Also, I will most likely miss next week due to school.

Many thanks to Bboy13 for favoriting and following this story.

I do not own My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Library of Congress,

Chapter 3: Back to School

I almost ran to my hotel room to get ready. I'd had an adventure over the summer but Thalia had led the quest. This quest was _mine_. And that felt very good.

Argus took Chiron and me back to camp that afternoon. "You will need to visit the Oracle," Chiron said.

"I know," I replied. "I'm not a kid anymore Chiron."

"You're all kids to me," he said. He was as cheery as ever.

"Where is she?" I asked. Our Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, is the Mayor of New York City. She stays in the city, close enough to camp to get there for any quest that might happen, during the summer. But she has her own duties and during the school year she's liable to be anywhere. One time Jim Davis had to travel to Beijing in December.

"She's currently in Albany lobbying for more money," Chiron said. "Take a pegasus."

Argus dropped me off at the stables. I walked about a foot into the stables before an albino pegasus gently head-butted me to the ground.

"Hello to you too Tiger," I said between chuckles. White Tiger, or Tiger as I called him, wasn't technically my pegasus but he refused to let anyone else ride or groom him. I loved that pegasus, even when he shoved me to the floor. Which he did often. Eventually I managed to stop dodging hooves and get back up. I grabbed a brush and began grooming him. "You ready for a ride?" I asked. He neighed and brushed his head against my side. He lowered his front legs and let me get on. "North," I said and Tiger bolted from the stable, into the field and into the air.

When I die, I hope I'm riding a pegasus. There is no greater feeling in the world. We were flying a thousand feet in the air through the chilly air of southern New York. Tiger's wings bit through the low clouds as I arrived over the Hudson and began to follow it up river. I knew that I could fall asleep and Tiger wouldn't let me fall but the forest ground and the ever-cleaning river was such a beautiful sight that I didn't think there was any chance I'd fall asleep.

At one point Tiger dove down and flew next to a tanker that was traveling down river. I was very grateful for the Mist. The Mist can be manipulated by demigods and gods. For example, I made them think we were a really large Eagle. That wasn't very far from the truth.

About four o'clock (demigods have a natural ability to do things like tell time from the sun), we flew into Albany. Tiger landed in front of the Capital building, a huge three story mansion along the banks of the Hudson. Tiger took off and began grazing across the river. I walked into the building.

I had never actually been inside the capital building. It was beautiful and majestic and extremely confusing. I resorted to manipulating the Mist pretty quickly. I made the security believe I was an important person in order to get them to divulge Rachel's location. I went with the Secretary of State. I finally got that she was in the chairman of some committee's office and then, after another half hour, determined where that office was in the building.

I entered without knocking and clearly interrupted an important conversation. Rachel turned and recognized me immediately. She just shook her head.

"How did you get - " the chairman started to ask. I snapped my fingers. "Miss Dare, I just remembered I have a very important meeting with the Governor in five minutes. Please accept my apologies. Can we resume in an hour?"

Rachel continued to shake her head and fight back a laugh. "Yeah, sounds good," she said, not taking her gaze from me. The chairman quickly packed up and left his office. "You better have a really good reason to interrupt that meeting young man," Rachel said once the room was clear. She moved around to sit behind the desk.

"I'm trying to save the world," I offered. She finally let out the laugh. In many ways Rachel was a second mother to me. She was one of Dad's best friends (but only friends!) and had been at camp for much of my formative years while my real mother had been working on Olympus. I think she viewed me as a son too.

"Finally got a quest of your own then?" she asked. There was a smile she couldn't hold back on her face. I nodded.

Suddenly the smile disappeared from her face. Her eyes rolled back in her head and green smoke began seeping from her nose and eyes. "_Approach, seeker, and ask,_" an ancient voice that definitely wasn't Rachel's said. I'd heard about the Oracle, but this was a little more unnerving than I was expecting.

"How can I find and close the Doors of the Deep?" I asked once I finally worked out the shock value.

The Oracle sat still, the green smoke filling the room, for what felt like several minutes. Finally, she opened here mouth and spoke:

_Head in three's strength for the Mount held most dear_

_Sail in protection, the sea you shall fear_

_The dragon following through hot and cold_

_Lock the door; discover the action bold_

As suddenly as it had started, the green, smoky nightmare ended. Rachel's eyes returned to normal and the green smoke dissipated. Rachel's smile returned. "It appears to have worked," she said in her normal voice.

"Yeah," I said.

"I suppose you'll have to go then," Rachel said. I nodded and headed for the door. "Winston," she said when I'd gotten to the door.

"Alex," I corrected her.

She only smiled. "Good luck kiddo," she said. I smiled and headed out.

A couple minutes of begging with Tiger later we were back in the air and headed south. I took the opportunity to catch some sleep while Tiger had me so surely on his back. Before I knew it the bright lights of the Manhattan skyline at night were in view and we flew easily into camp. I gave Tiger a large sugar cube and tons of hay. He deserved it.

Everyone except my father had returned from Olympus in my absence. He was getting a crash course in his godly powers, and those he didn't have. Almost as soon as I left the stable, my mother was ushering me into the Big House. Several plates of food were set out on the ping pong table. Chiron sat in his wheelchair on one side, Mr. D. sat disinterested at the head of the table. My mother ushered me to a chair across from Chiron and took her seat next to me. She began shoving food in my mouth. I was thankful; I hadn't eaten since breakfast.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Did you get a prophecy?" he asked with a grin.

"Right," I said with a mouth full of food. My mother scolded me. I told them the prophecy. "What does that even mean?" I asked when I was done.

"What did you expect?" Mr. D. asked. He was looking at a magazine but I knew there was no way he was actually reading it.

"Usually I'm pretty good at decoding her, but I'm drawing a blank," I said between bites.

"Well, let's think a little," Chiron said. "_Head in three's strength for the Mount held most dear._ Thoughts?"

"Well, let's start with the obvious," I said. "I need two other people."

"I don't like to assume anything is obvious with the Oracle," Chiron said. "Keep an open mind about the line. However, I agree you should have three on the quest. Who do you have in mind?"

"Airiana and Jayzon," I said immediately.

"And where are they now?" Chiron asked.

"Airiana is in Iowa at school. Jayzon is in Oklahoma with his family," I said.

"And if you can't do that much traveling before the quest?" Chiron asked.

"I'd rather have Airiana," I said.

"Jayzon's your best friend," Mom said surprised.

"Hera's powers are great for a lot of things," I said. "Battle is not one of them. I need Airiana's power if I'm going to survive in the world of the big G God."

Mr. D. laughed. "Don't write off your mother's powers that quickly Winston Alexis. She can be scary enough when she wants to be," he said.

"Alexander," I said through gritted teeth.

"Moving on," Annabeth said. She always took offense when Hera was called my mother. "What Mount is she talking about?"

"I was assuming Olympus," I said.

"Not a very long sailing trip," Mr. D. said. "Be faster to drive."

"The real one?" I suggested.

"No longer held dear," Chiron said. "It's just another mountain since the destruction of Rome."

"But religious mountains is a good idea," my mother said. "What religious mountains are still held dear?"

"I have not kept up on the new religions," Chiron said. "But there is one mountain held dear by over half the world's population. If you're looking for the _most _dear Mount, I think that's the one."

"The Temple Mount," I said. "The House of the big G God. It makes sense."

"Then we shall move on," Chiron said, though his face betrayed that he wasn't saying something. "_Sail in protection, the sea you shall fear_."

"Well I was going to fear the sea anyway," I said. "And the shadows. They're the domain of Triton and Chris now."

"Sail in protection?" Mom said. "Protection from the Sea?"

"Probably," I said. "What can protect us from the Sea?"

"The same thing that protected humanity the last time," Chiron said. "The boat itself."

"What?" I asked.

"During the Flood, Prometheus created a large boat to protect a human named Deucalion. The boat was very similar to Noah's Ark in that it was designed for protection. No god or agent of a god could damage a single plank in the boat. It protected Deucalion through the flood and saved humanity," Chiron said.

"Well, where is it?" I asked.

"I do not know," Chiron said.

Mr. D. started laughing. "I take it you know," I said.

"Prometheus made a mistake in design," Mr. D. said. "We couldn't destroy a single plank, but we could destroy the boat. Poseidon finally got his hands on it about 300 years after the Flood and dismantled it piece by piece."

"What did he do with them?" I asked.

"He hid them," Mr. D. said.

"Where?" I asked. I didn't really expect him to answer.

"In plain sight," Mr. D. said. "He planted them as far away from Greece as he could. They grew into trees and he built a forest around them."

"Where?" I pressed further.

Mr. D. motioned through the air. "As far away from Greece as he could. New England."

"We have to build it?" I asked.

"Yup," Mr. D. said with a shrug.

"From individual trees in the forest?" I asked.

"At last check," Mr. D. said. "And if you have a single plank in the boat from the wrong tree, Triton can crush it." The smile on his face betrayed the dismay on my own.

"Demigods can do amazing things," Chiron said. "And I'm quite sure that building the ship will be your smallest problem." That made me feel wonderful. "Let's move on. _The dragon following through hot and cold."_

"What dragon?" I asked.

"Impossible to say," Chiron said.

"You said the boat protects against the gods as well," Mom said. "Does that mean that Triton can't send a monster to destroy the ship for him?"

"Yes," Chiron said. "But a monster could do it of its own accord. I think you should be on the lookout for a monster. Though probably not until you reach the Mare…um Mediterranean. The last line: _Lock the door; discover the action bold._"

"Mare?" I asked but Chiron flashed me a look that said _drop it. _"I like the locking the door part," I said to change the subject. "What bold action?"

"It seems like you'll discover that near the end of the quest," Mom said.

"I agree," Chiron said. "Any other comments?"

"So let me get this straight," I said. "I've got to go pick up two demigods from Iowa and possibly Oklahoma, head back to New York, find special trees in the forest (when I don't even know what makes them stand out), sail to Israel, find the Doors of the Deep that are hidden from even the gods, sail to them and close them?"

"All in the time limit," Mr. D. said calmly sipping his freshly made Diet Coke.

"What time limit?" my Mother and I said simultaneously.

"Triton knows where the Doors are, presumably he has already started the process of opening them," he said.

"Process?" I asked. "How long does it take?"

"Forty days," Mr. D. said. "If you open them any faster all you get is a really impressive geyser. The good news is that Triton doesn't need to personally oversee the process. He shouldn't be waiting for you, unless of course he wants to stop you. Or just wants to have some fun. I should watch."

"Great, add defeat a god to the list," I mumbled.

"Don't forget about the dragon that will be chasing you," Mr. D. added cheerfully.

"Triton will want to time the Flood with his attack on Olympus," Mom said.

"Are we sure that Triton is the leader?" I asked.

"No we're not. In fact I suspect Triton is just a follower. If they are building a new council, a son of Zeus will be responsible," Chiron said. "As for when, I agree the Flood will be timed with the attack."

"When to attack?" I asked.

"The Winter Solstice is approaching," Mom said. "The gods are weakest on that day. It's when I'd attack."

"True," Chiron said.

"We'll be ready if they come that day, we always are," Mr. D. said, suddenly appearing interested.

"And we will join you on Olympus," Mom said. "We won't stand by while Olympus falls."

"Then it's agreed. Alex, you'll need to get done by nightfall on December 21. That gives you 25 days, including tomorrow. Thankfully it was an early Thanksgiving this year."

"That's impossible," I said.

"You are a demigod, nothing is impossible," Chiron said. "Besides, you don't have a choice. Failure means the end of the world."

"The gods will be on your side," Mom said. "The Ark you build will be a sailing ship. Zeus can give you a tailwind."

"So I should pray to Zeus while on the ocean?" I asked.

"That will likely get you nowhere," Mr. D. said. He was disinterestedly reading his magazine again.

"You have any suggestions then?" my mother rudely asked.

Mr. D. grinned. "I should turn you into a lamb and then eat you while watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding," he said. "Which, coincidentally, contains your answer." He stood up and took an operatic pose before quoting. "The man is the head of the household, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants." He sat down. "Or something like that." He returned to his magazine.

"Thanks," I said. "And what does that mean?"

"It means you'll need to pray to Hera to stand a chance of getting Zeus' help on a quest," Chiron said.

Chiron stood from his wheel chair, which was always painful to watch. "Ah, freedom," he said. He turned to my mother. "Annabeth, I agree we need to help defend Olympus on the Solstice. I will travel to your father-in-law's school and bring the demigods there home. If you would round up the others please. Alex, I'll leave tomorrow. If you wish to ride with me it will speed up your trip."

I didn't get to sleep for a long time that night. And once I did, I wished I'd stayed awake.

I found myself in the lobby of the Library of Congress, the floors of bookcases rising menacingly over my head in the dark. I'm not sure why the library was dark as there were people working there.

I found who I was supposed to see there immediately. She was wearing slacks and a blouse that made her blend into the books surrounding her, but her piercing gray eyes found me immediately and her smile told me I was recognized.

"Jessica, I'm going to take a break," she said louder than one would normally hear in a library. She walked over to me and motioned out the front door. I obeyed.

"Did you summon me?" I asked as we began to descend the stairs.

"No," Athena said. "You summoned yourself."

"How does that happen?" I asked.

"The mind is a strange thing," Athena said. "My children do it often when there is something they do not understand or a question that they want another opinion on. This is the first time I've seen it from someone who I have not claimed though."

"But I don't know what I don't know," I said.

"Yes you do," Athena said. "Think."

"Well, there's the prophecy," I said.

"What do you think about the prophecy?" she asked, placing her hands behind her back. We were halfway down the street.

"Well, I have to do about fifteen million things and I have to do them all by the Solstice," I said.

"That's what your mother thinks," she said. "What do you think?"

She had hit upon why I was there. "I think she's wrong," I said, stopping.

"And why do you think that?" she asked, stopping and facing me.

"Militarily, the gods are not weakest on the Solstice," I said. She smiled.

"It is the shortest day of the year," she said with a tone for me to continue.

"Yes," I said. "And the god's _powers_ are weakest on that day. But they know that so they're prepared to fight that day. And this year the demigods will be there to defend the mountain."

"If Zeus lets them," Athena interrupted.

"Well there's that," I said. "But the day's not that much longer on December 22nd. How much stronger are the gods on that day?"

Athena smiled. "My daughter is very wise," Athena said, beginning to walk back toward the Library. "If you place her on a battlefield, she will win it for you. But one can win a battle before they arrive on the battlefield. You, Winston Alexander, are truly my grandson. You have a lion's share of this knowledge. You are correct; they will not attack on the Solstice because we will be ready that day. We would win that day."

"It's Alex," I said. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself.

"You will have to choose which name you use," she said. "Names have power. What name you use will define who you are; Winston achieves peace, Alex wins wars. But don't make that decision too soon. The fate of the world might just rest on the choice."

"You have a bias?" I asked.

"I do," she said. "So does your mother, which is why you are Winston Alexander and not Alexander Winston. But ultimately you will make the choice."

"Yeah," I said. We arrived at the base of the steps to the Library and paused before climbing. "When would you attack?" I asked.

"I cannot tell you that," she said. "Zeus does not want us to do anything which might help a demigod succeed, whether we believe that demigod is with us or against us. But, you are on the right track. The best strategy for defense begins with thinking about how you would attack yourself."

"Well, December 22nd is a good choice; the gods tend to be hungover with their defenses down. No offense," I quickly added. We began climbing the steps.

"I do not get offended at the truth," she said.

"But are there other days?" I asked again.

"There are many," she said.

"In the next forty days?" I pressed.

She shrugged. "A few," she said. "Find them out if you want to know your real time limit." We entered the library.

"Great, another thing to do," I said.

"Well, what else were you planning to do on that boat?" she asked. We walked to the row of books she had been working on when I had arrived. "I must get back to work now," she said.

"Thanks for the help," I said. I turned around and began to leave, not sure how long I would have to walk before I woke up.

"Winston Alexander," she said as I got to the end of the row. I turned back around. "You forgot the book you checked out," she said.

I was suddenly awake. Early morning rays were seeping in my bedroom window, illuminating the room that I was sure my mother would make me clean when I got back from saving the world. My room was on the second, upper, floor on the ocean side and I often found myself starring out the window at the beach in the morning. I always got comfort from this.

But today was different. That calm, rolling, blue mass was in enemy hands. It was what I was supposed to fear.

I turned away from the window and got dressed for the day. This was difficult: What do you wear when riding a centaur halfway across the country? I ultimately picked out jeans and a camp t-shirt. Boring.

I always have a bag, well more a backpack, packed for a quick getaway, and when I went to pick that bag up was when I saw it. Lying on my desk, which was way cleaner than when I'd last left it, was a book. It was hardback with a plain blue cover and appeared to have about five hundred pages. There was a notecard lying on the front which said:

Some light reading for your trip,

A.

P.S. I expect it back on January 1st. Late fee is 3 Drachma a day.

I picked the book up and flipped it open. It was a textbook intended for an introduction to ancient religions titled _Ancient Religions of the World_. I rolled my eyes: I knew this stuff. I was putting the book in my backpack when I noticed the bookmark. A bookmark listing the Presidents of the United States through 2020 was sticking out of the book. I opened the book to the marked page that was the beginning of the chapter on ancient Egypt. I placed the notecard and the bookmark back on that page and placed the book in my backpack.

Chiron was talking, in full centaur form, to my mother outside Hera's cabin (or as I call it, home) when I stepped outside with my backpack. He nodded to me when he'd finished the conversation. I didn't listen in.

"You ready?" he asked, walking up to me. I nodded. "Hop on," he said. He bent his front legs so I could get on his back and then he stood up. "Don't pull out any hairs," he said quickly. And then he started to run.


	4. School Just Isn't What it Used to Be

Disclaimer: I do not own Bill Cosby Standup.

Chapter 4: I Go Back To School

Riding a centaur is almost as much fun as riding a pegasus. Almost. It certainly is a little bit faster. A centaur has the ability to kind of wrap and fold space when it wants to. Once a centaur gets running, each step can cover miles.

And, boy, did Chiron ever get running. The city appeared and then a minute later it was gone. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and finally Iowa flashed past us like it was the ground that was moving. I thought I saw a couple of glimpses of Cleveland and Chicago but I may have been wrong. Then again, my eyes may have been clinched tight the whole time (don't tell Airiana).

It was seeing Airiana again that had me most excited. She may not have even realized that the Underworld had been taken and that I had a quest. She probably didn't know that the world had been completely altered since Thanksgiving. I was sure we'd have so much to talk about.

I realized I was wrong before Chiron was even finished slowing down. It was supposed to be early in the morning, but the darkness was so complete that the air was almost too think to breathe. And as Chiron slowed to a trot, the sun began to peak through and the lights of the school illuminated the ground while the ugly sounds of battle reverberated through the air and into my soul.

Chiron came to a rest in a small wood on the edge of the school property with his bow and arrow already appearing on his back. The school was designed to be an secret fort. Two thirds of the demigods who attend mortal school during the year have come to this school, operated by my father's mother and step-father Paul Blofis. Just think for a minute who is on the PTO: There's Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Di…well, you get the idea. I feel sorry for the one mortal who has no idea why his opinions are never adopted. Security equal to that of the camp had been placed on the school by order of the gods. There are two dozen satyrs roaming the halls anonymously; half of the teachers are older demigods as well as the entire upper administration; there are magical barriers similar to camp along the wall of forest and the bottom of the small lake. The front of the school is a six-foot stone wall with a huge gate that appeared decorative but would withstand the impact of a jet flying straight into it.

The actual building was three story brick building shaped like a long, squat u opening to the gate. There were always at least three children of Apollo (sometimes students) patrolling the roof of the building.

The first thing I noticed after we stepped from the wood was that several classrooms were on fire. Smoke rose from multiple windows in the back of the building as we approached and a lot more was coming from the front. I hoped that the plan for protecting the mortals in case of attack had worked. It had never been tested before.

Monsters of every shape and size imaginable swarmed around the base of the school, but the magical barriers on each of the windows seemed to be holding. Chiron loaded five arrows on his bow and fired into the mass, somehow managing to hit seven telekhines; beings with the head of a dog and the body of a seal. He stayed close to the forest and reloaded.

I pulled _Sabertooth _and threw it into the crowd with me running in after it screaming my head off. Because, you know, that's what warriors do: they scream their head off. _Sabertooth _extended from a toothpick into a four-foot long javelin and flew into a wolf-sized hellhound that had a look of severe shock on its face as it dissolved into ash. Several telekhines, which appeared to make up this part of what was clearly an army, stood between my weapon and me. They turned around and bared their fangs just as I arrived at their lines.

Seven arrows landed around me and dissolved the sea-dogs to dust. Many thanks again to Chiron.

I grabbed _Sabertooth, _pulled it from the ground and twisted it into gladius mode before I was swarmed with more telekhines. A couple quick slashes brought me to a graduated son of Hephestus who had pulled a Celestial Bronze hammer from his tool belt and was pounding the little wolf heads in. We moved to stand back to back and soon the telekhines were pulling back.

Their retreat gave me my first opportunity to access the situation at the front of the school. A group of cannibal Laistrygonians were pelting the building with exploding fireballs. The front of the building looked like a bomb had gone off. There were no arrows coming from the roof. I made a quick prayer to my father for help with that.

_I can't get through the defenses,_ I heard him say in my head.

Right; he was a god now. _I, Winston Alexander Jackson, herby give you, Perseus Jackson, permission to enter the school_ I thought as I ran toward the front lines.

Closer to the school was a group of hellhounds that seemed to make the middle of the army. In the middle of the front lines was a giant, black spider, standing at least seven feet tall and ten feet wide. As I got closer, I could see more, smaller spiders mixed with the Hellhounds. I also could see injured demigods, some of whom weren't moving.

As I approached, I saw Nico fighting the spider off as he stood over an injured demigod I couldn't identify. The spider was almost dancing trying to avoid the Stygian Iron sword while also trying to finish the demigod. I slashed through a couple of hellhounds who didn't see me as I approached. I made sure to use short motions to keep the rest of them from seeing me.

Three things happened at once. Airiana, who was standing a few yards behind Nico, threw some seeds from her magical seed bag and vines sprung up around the far side of the army ensnaring about ten of the larger hellhounds. They also grabbed the spider's left side, causing it to lose its balance. At the exact same moment, I arrived next to the spider and slashed _Sabertooth _up through its stomach. Also, the spider attempted to get around Nico with its front, right leg which came down early as the spider fell because of the vines and impaled Nico's leg right before the monster dissolved.

We were swarmed by angry little spiders and it was all Airiana and I could do to fight them off for a few seconds. Then one hellhound managed to get its legs on Airiana's seed bag. It didn't knock it far, but it was far enough.

"Now what?" Airiana asked as she struggled to tie up the spiders with blades of grass. Her "Persephone powers" over vegetation were really being stretched and the grass didn't want to respond.

A wall of water came crashing down over the school as if the whole lake had jumped into the fight. The grass seemed rejuvenated with the water and leapt to life. _Sorry I'm late _my dad said in my head.

"Airiana, take the sword," Nico said, holding his Stygian Iron sword with ingrained silver out for her. His leg had a large puncture wound in it and there was blood soaked into his pant leg but he'd looked worse. In the last week.

"What'll you do?" she asked as the spiders began to regroup from the water.

"I don't need it to exercise power anymore," he said. "Take it and use it, daughter of Hades."

"There are too many," she said.

"Not for you," Nico said with enough conviction to make me think he was using charmspeak. Airiana took the sword and spun around.

Three hellhounds and a spider fell to Airiana's spin and the whole army stopped as if a hook had grabbed their neck and begun to pull them back. Some of the smaller animals dissolved for no reason as they fought the unseen force. Finally, the army stopped fighting and began to back up toward the Laistrygonians and what used to be the school's wall.

Evil laughter rung through the torn up courtyard as the demigods that could formed behind Airiana and I. We held our swords at our sides, but we were ready.

Christopher Nash melted from a tree to our right. He was a buff teenager who would have fit in with the toughest of crowds. But now that he had the power to be anything, he appeared even more ripped than before. He had deep dark eyes and pure black hair, and today he was wearing a deep, royal purple cloak over a black t-shirt and pants and he was gently bouncing the Sword of Hades in front of him. The Sword was a broad, Stygian Iron sword with some silver designs like Nico's. A gold key was welded into the base of the sword, giving it the power to send any soul to Tartarus with a brush and lock them there. But the scariest thing about him was the amused smile on his face like he was thinking of the most fun way to kill us.

"Morning Sis," he said to Airiana.

"You are no brother of mine," she replied.

"Oh now, don't be like that," Chris chided.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

Chris' smile somehow grew. "To destroy your school, what does it look like I want? I didn't come to play dodgeball," he said.

"I like dodgeball," one of the Laistrygonian giants said. Chris turned and pointed the Sword at the giant and the giant erupted into a column of flame and disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Airiana asked.

"You don't know?" Chris mocked. "Shame. Shame. News doesn't travel as fast as it used to."

"Careful, your highness," I said in the same mocking tone. "That's how Hades lost the Underworld."

"You keep thinking that," he said.

I noticed Chiron walk up next to me with his bow aimed directly at the ruler of the Underworld. "You're not immortal yet and I don't miss very often," he said.

Chris' smile vanished and was replaced by a raised eyebrow. "Careful about who you make angry, _minor_ immortal," he said. Chiron shifted his bow but didn't say anything. "But we'll leave you alone for now." His smile returned with a vengeance. "At least until the pool party," he said. He waved his arm and the whole army dissolved into shadow and vanished.

"What just happened?" Airiana asked. "How could he have the power to do that?"

"Too much to explain now," Chiron said. "Help the wounded and we'll explain everything indside."

* * *

A couple of hours later, most of the demigods were well enough to sit in what was left of the cafeteria as Chiron tried to heal Nico as best he could. The poor man would be out of commission for quite a while. Still, he wasn't one of the three people under burial shrouds in the front of the room.

"Alex, what's going on?" Kim Santos, daughter of Hecate asked.

I stood up. I explained everything: how Nico came dramatically to our Thanksgiving dinner; how he'd seen Christopher take over the Underworld and exile Hades and Persephone; how the gods were closing themselves off from us; how my father was made temporary god of the sea after the apparent exile of Poseidon; and finally I told them about my quest.

"How exactly do you plan on doing all that by the Solstice?" a son of Ares asked from the back.

"I don't know how," I said honestly. "I just know we have to."

"Or what?" the same person said.

"We have a worldwide pool party," I said. No one responded.

"What do you need?" Ariana asked. "You can't do all of this by yourself. You're gonna need serious help."

"I need volunteers," I said. "I need people on the quest and I need people to help me think this through. Hopefully they're the same people."

Silence met this statement. Not the response I was expecting.

"I'll go," Airiana said. I felt a little stress relief at that but I only nodded an acknowledgment.

"I need another," I said.

"None of the major god's children are suicidal enough to join you," Kelly Lyons, daughter of Aphrodite said. There as a murmur of accent throughout the room.

"What do you mean, 'major gods?'" Kim Santos asked, rising to her feet.

"He needs powerful demigods," Kelly said. "Obviously, he'll want a major god's child. An Olympian."

"You think only Olympians can produce powerful demigods?" she asked. Her voice was rising. "How about you?" she asked me bluntly.

"I'd rather not get into it," I said shyly.

"You think power only comes from Olympus?" she demanded.

"No," I said. "But I do think Olympians are powerful."

"We survived for centuries without you," the son of Ares said.

"So we're not needed, Andy?" Zach Evans, son of Isis said.

"Exactly," Andy said.

"A child of the rainbow goddess could be more valuable on this quest than a warrior," I said quickly to try to quell the room.

"I can't," Zach said. "My father needs me to take care of him."

"You see?" Andy said. "We'd never shrink from a fight like that. I'll go."

"You need power, let me go," Kim immediately replied.

The room turned to me.

I wasn't sure what to do, I really wanted to take four on the quest, but I knew that would be a bad idea. People tended to die on quests that left with four.

"Well?" Kim asked.

I looked from Kim to Andy and back to Kim. I believed that Ares was more powerful than Hecate, but I'd also seen what Kim could do with her magic. "A demigod's power is not the same as their parent's power. Andy, I'm sorry, I don't think that you add anything to what Airiana can bring. Kim, you're in."

The room erupted in anger and I saw a few weapons drawn between Olympian and non-Olympian.

"SILENCE!" Chiron's voice erupted from the door. Everyone turned around and dropped their weapons. "Pack your things. I am assuming Alex told you about the dire situation facing us back in New York. We are expecting an all out war for the very survival of Western Civilization in the next month. Therefore, I am recalling all of you to camp in preparation for the expected invasion. We will be fighting _together!_ All of us! So learn to live with each other!" He turned and left the room in stunned silence. Slowly, we filed out and back to our rooms.

"How are you feeling?" Airiana asked as we walked up to Nico in the makeshift hospital area. A child of Apollo attempted to stop us from disturbing him but the young demigod yielded to a stern look from Airiana and a little charmspeak from me.

"Like I got speared by a two ton spider," Nico said. He tried to shift up to talk but quickly fell back into the bed. "The docs say I'll be all right but I'm probably not going anywhere for a bit. I don't heal as fast as I used to. I wasn't blessed with two childhoods like my sister here. Plus there's a little poison in the wound." During our quest last summer, we had discovered that Airiana was not only the child of Persephone. Her soul was actually the soul of Bianca Di Angelo, Nico's older sister, who had taken the Isles of the Blest challenge. Bianca had achieved Elysium by being a hero in her first life. If her soul could achieve Elysium three times, she could go to the Isles of the Blest. Bianca had bathed in the River Lythe, washing away the memories of Bianca's life, and was born into the body of Airiana Wilson on November 2; the Day of the Dead. But, unlike any previous demigod to take the challenge, Airiana had not been born into the child of the same godly parent. As a result, she was the only demigod to have the full powers of two gods: Hades and Persephone. The child of Hades that was born that year, the child that should have received Bianca's soul, was Christopher Nash.

"I told you not to call me your sister," she said.

"Or at least listen to her like a good little brother," I said. Airiana hit me.

Nico tried to help me, but winced and fell back because of pain. Airiana put a hand out to stabilize him. "I brought you this," she said, pulling Nico's sword out.

Nico shook his head. "No, keep it. You can use it more than me," he said.

"But you'll be defenseless," she said.

Nico propped himself on his elbows and stared into her soul. "A child of Hades is never defenseless. Remember that," he said. He leaned back. "Besides, I've gotten pretty good at summoning and controlling the dead. I won't need the sword to do that anymore. Where you're going, you'll need all the help you can get."

"Where we're going?" I asked.

"Chiron didn't tell you?" he asked. I shook my head. "Where the gods are, the monsters are as well. The gods followed Western Civilization, but Western Civilization didn't travel very far very fast. Between Greece, Rome, Turkey and Moorish Spain, Western Civilization called the Mediterranean Sea home for over 2000 years, surrounding it since the Romans conquered it before the turn of the eras. They named it the Mare Nostrum: Our Sea. Well, it wasn't only the Romans that moved in. There's a lot of residual godly presence there, which makes it very dangerous for demigods. Lots of really big monsters have been sleeping for centuries in that lake. The gods spent almost 500 years around the English Channel and Great North Sea between Germany, England and France so you'll want to avoid that area too if you can."

"Any dragons?" I asked.

"Probably," Nico said. "Most of the presence was in the northern shores. Stick close to Africa and you might have a better chance."

"Egypt," I said to myself.

"What?" Airiana asked.

"Athena gave me a book," I said. "It was on ancient religions and she had bookmarked the chapter on Ancient Egypt. Would there be any residual presence from Egypt?"

"I don't know much about Egypt's religion," Nico said. "But Athena bookmarked that chapter for a reason. I'd study it sooner rather than later."

Airiana and I retreated to her dorm as she packed. She kicked me out long enough to change into a black turtleneck and a pair of windbreaker pants. Kim Santos walked up while I was waiting in the hallway. She was wearing a dark yellow t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants, both of which were skintight. She said that she would need as much movement as she could have to perform magic.

Airiana's room was pretty neat for a demigod. The bed was made, with a suitcase on it for filling, and there was only two days of clothes on the floor. There was even room to write on the desk. But it was the smell that made me enjoy being here so much. Airiana had grown a forest in her room. There was more fresh air here than by the lake. Especially now that my father had emptied the lake.

I pulled up a chair to the desk and opened Athena's book, setting the bookmark and notecard aside. "What's this?" Kim asked.

"Athena's idea of help," I said.

"Help with what?" she asked.

"The quest," I said. "I don't believe that the Solstice is our real deadline. I was just saying that in case one of our campers betrays us."

"When is the real deadline then?" Airiana asked. She was finally packed.

"Whenever Christopher and company decide to attack Olympus. Athena wants the book back by January 1, so I'd guess she thinks it's before then," I said. "I'm looking for an exact date in this book. You'd think she could have picked one that had less than 500 pages."

"Perhaps he is a clue?" Kim asked. She was holding the bookmark with a strange look like she expected it to start talking to her. Then again, as the daughter of the magic goddess, that might not be too strange.

"Who?" I asked. She put the bookmark down and pointed to one of the early Presidents.

"James Madison is circled in pen," she said. "Maybe it's a message."

"But James Madison has nothing to do with Ancient Religions," I said.

"Except for being a child of Athena," Kim said.

"Well, yeah," I said. "Nothing about ancient Egypt though. What kind of a clue is that?"

"Maybe we should ask him," Airiana said. We both looked at her strangely. "Nico taught me how to communicate with the dead," she said. "I think I've got it down. We could try it after we get back to camp."

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

"Talking with the dead," Kim said. "Sounds exciting." She wasn't very good at hiding her sarcasm. Airiana looked at me to say something.

"It'll be ok," I said without looking at Airiana. "Airiana can control anything she summons." From the look on Airiana's face though, I wasn't very convincing. Thankfully, any response she was about to give was cut short by Chiron yelling down the hall that we were leaving.


	5. We Get Advice From The Dead

Harry Potter Series, Spandex, The United States Navy and any vessels or places under its control, Honda,

Chapter 5: We Get Advice From The Dead

I was met by a flying cow patty in the face as soon as I walked out of the school. There was rolling laughter from in the field. As soon as I cleared my face of the poo, flying cobs of corn and loaves of bread attacked the school's entrance. Now that more demigods had tried to join me, this attack was very effective. Then came another round of flying cow poop.

"Brothers!" Chiron said from somewhere behind me. He did not seem happy. "Enough!"

Chiron had stopped the barrage just in time: the rubber chickens seemed to be next. Twenty centaurs stood on a small ridge created by the morning's battle. Several of them had hunting rifles strapped to their backs. A couple had a bow and arrow combination. One had two colt pistols and chaps, which looked very weird on horse legs. "Aw, come on Chiron," the middle centaur said. "Can't we at least do the exploding chickens? We promise no one will be hurt."

They didn't wait for an answer. The middle centaur yelled "pull!" and three of them threw large rubber chickens into the air. The rifles were drawn, aimed and fired as the chickens were directly over our heads. Every shot hit its target and the chickens exploded, spilling a brown liquid onto our heads. The centaurs began laughing, running around and high fiving each other. The smell betrayed the liquid as beer.

"Billy, you agreed to behave!" Chiron yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," the middle centaur said. I guessed his name was Billy. Billy cantered up to the group as Chiron made his way through to the front. When Billy was close enough, I was able to read his shirt. It was camo and ripped, with black letters that read "Party Ponies: Badlands Division."

"Hi y'all," Billy said when he got to us. "Heard y'all needed a ride to New York."

"You'd die in New York," Kelly Lyons said behind me. I couldn't imagine what a daughter of Aphrodite felt like covered in beer and cow dung. Something inside of me was very happy for her misery though after the way she had treated Kim earlier.

"We've been in New York, belle," Billy said. "We love New York! Lots of beer and fried chicken! Besides, we owe Chiron and this will pay that debt. Won't it brother?" Billy's voice was threatening for the first time.

"It will," Chiron said through clinched teeth. "But time is short. We must leave now."

"But I need to shower!" Kelly said.

"Shower at camp," the son of Hephaestus with the tool belt said. I still wasn't sure where that tool belt had come from. Cabin 9 said it was a gift from Hephaestus himself.

"We need to leave now, before they come back," Chiron said. "The school is no longer safe."

I was led to one of the centaurs who had thrown the chickens. Kelly was insisting on riding Chiron as the others were dirty. "Hello," I said.

"Howdy," the centaur said. "My name is Bane. No need to ask yours Jackson."

"Um, thanks," I said. "Bane? Like in Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potter? Who's that?" Bane asked.

"The famous book series a couple decades ago," I said.

"Books? Don't do books," Bane said.

"Right," I said. "Well, they're remaking the movies I hear. Nice throw by the way."

"I know, right!" Bane said. I hopped on his back.

Bane wasted no time in yelling "Ye Haw!" And then he was off.

* * *

We arrived at camp as the sun was sinking below the horizon. I now had one fewer day than when I started: 24 till the solstice. Chiron had to use the harpies to keep Kelly and her brother out of the bathhouse while he insisted that Kim, Airiana and I get the first showers so we could leave on our quest. There was no time to lose.

After the shower, we met beside a shallow hole on the edge of the forest, the remains of a cut down tree from the summer before. "We need an offering," Airiana said.

"Um, what kind of offering?" I asked.

"Liquid and food," Airiana said.

"Well, my father can summon water…" I said. Then I remembered that he was on Olympus now. "Well, he would if he were here."

"I can handle the water," Kim said, pulling what looked like a foot long stick out of her pocket. The stick sparkled in the moonlight. "You two go get food."

Airiana and I headed up to the Big House. The porch was filled with demigods that stayed at camp year round and those who returned to the mortal world catching up. We walked past them and into the living room.

"Nice to have some time alone," Airiana said.

"Okay," I said. How do you respond to that?

"Don't give me that innocent look," Airiana said. "I can see how you look at her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, stopping at the door to the basement. She had already headed halfway down the stairs.

"You've been staring at her ever since she put on that spandex," Airiana said not stopping. "That's why she wore that you know."

"She said she needed free movement for magic," I said following her down the steps. "And frankly I feel insulted you think I would do that." I didn't mention that Kim actually did look very good.

"Whatever," Airiana said. "Let's find some food. Maybe a few pounds of beef?"

"What are you willing to pay for that?" a new voice said. A harpy walked around the shelving unit from where they kept the lava sinks. Her pale skin suggested she didn't get out much.

"We don't need to pay anything," I said, throwing as much effort into the words as I could.

"Charmspeak does not work on me, mortal," the harpy said.

"Do you even know who I am?" I asked, no charmspeak this time.

"No," she said truthfully.

"I happen to be a very important leader in camp," I said.

"No one from your cabin is a very important leader," the harpy said.

"You don't know me but you know which cabin I'm in?" I asked hoping for the correct response.

"Only Aphrodite's children have charmspeak," the harpy said. Score.

"Actually," Airiana began but I cut her off.

"I'll make you a deal then," I said. "You give us the meat and the Aphrodite cabin will do your dishes for a month."

The harpy's expression changed and I managed to catch a peek at Airiana as the plan dawned on her. "Deal," the harpy finally said. She retrieved a twenty pound steak and gave it to me. Airiana and I turned and left.

"That, is why I love you," she said. _Girls,_ I thought.

* * *

Kim had the stump filled with fresh water when we returned. Airiana instructed me to throw in the steak and then set Kim and I on opposite sides of the pit to guard against other spirits drinking. Though, she didn't need to insist we face away from each other three times during her instructions. Even Kim blushed.

Airiana pulled Nico's sword and began chanting in ancient Greek as soon as we took our positions. I had _Sabertooth _in _gladius_ mode and Kim had pulled her stick back out. I made a mental note to ask her about that. It seemed too perfect for her to have a magic wand.

Suddenly the ground shimmered at our feet. It looked like someone had made ripples on it. Spirits began to seep up into the air and the shadows from the trees hardened into humanlike shapes. The spirits walked with glazed eyes, exactly like the zombies in Hollywood horror films. Some of the spirits were dark blue, almost black. Others were a brighter shade of blue. A couple were even close to white. None of them were very solid.

"Demigods have more powerful spirits," Airiana said, as if reading my mind. "The white ones, they'll be harder to keep at bay." I waved my sword at them and they seemed to back off further than necessary. A blinding light came from behind me and I turned around to see glowing bronze letters on the ghosts approaching from Kim's side. The letters were in Greek, but I read them clearly. They said "stop." I turned back to my side just in time to stop a couple of dark spirits in Union Civil War uniforms from getting past me. Silently cursing myself for getting distracted, I got my side under control.

A blazing white spirit appeared to my right and floated toward the pool. This spirit was definitely a demigod, but it seemed to have a more firm structure to it. It was a leader's spirit. I let it through. The spirit knelt at the pool and drank from the water. When it arose, it had solidified into the ghost of James Madison. Airiana stopped chanting and with a single look, Madison sent the spirits fleeing into the woods.

"Hello, Mr. President," Airiana said.

"No one has called me that in a century," Madison said. "To what do I owe the pleasure of a call, my lady?" He took off his hat and bowed like the Southern gentleman he was.

"Um, we were hoping for help with our quest," she said.

Madison leaned back. "There are other ways to summon me," he said. "This was dangerous. Very, very dangerous."

"Why was it dangerous?" I asked. He may be a former President, but no one attacks Airiana like that.

"Because the Underworld is in chaos," Madison said. "The spirits in the Fields of Punishment were not the only spirits that had to choose between Hades and Nash. We all did. Hundreds of thousands of spirits have simply left the Underworld over the last week; they are roaming the mortal world aimlessly making summoning spirits to one place very dangerous indeed. Haven't you heard the walking dead stories?"

"No," I said.

"No, sir," he corrected. "Well, you will soon enough. As for the help, I'll do what I can. What do you need help with fine souls?"

"We're not exactly sure," Airiana said.

"Then why did you summon me?" Madison asked. He was getting agitated now and his spirit was beginning to lose focus.

"Athena suggested it," Airiana said.

Madison calmed down. "Well, Athena cannot directly help on a quest but I can." He sat on a nearby stump and continued, "She would have trusted me and one of you to figure out how. Which of you is her child?" He examined each of us in turn and then appeared puzzled.

"I'm a grandchild of Athena," I said sheepishly.

"Close enough," Madison said. "Lay it out sir, and maybe we can figure it out together."

I started from the beginning, how I had summoned myself to Athena in a dream. He nodded like this happened all the time which made me feel better. I explained about the gift of the book and how he was circled on the bookmark. "So they haven't replaced that Constitution yet?" he asked, getting up briefly to get another drink from the pool. He returned to the stump, more solid, as he said "I didn't expect that document to last. I didn't do that good a job writing it." He listened patiently as I explained the need to build Deucalion's boat and sail it across the Mediterranean to Israel. Cracking a smile, he continued listening through the part about finding and closing the Doors of the Deep and then about how I wasn't sure how long I had to do it. "We're working on the time limit right now," I said. "And the boat problem, that too."

Madison sat in silent thought for about a minute after I finished. Kim started to say something, but I put my hand out to stop her. I could tell when a child of Athena was thinking. I had learned not to disturb my mother. Suddenly he turned to Kim. "You're a daughter of the magic goddess, am I correct, my Lady?"

"Yes," Kim said. "How did you know that?"

"Sizing up others has always been a talent of mine. Tell me, why is Hecate not on the Council?" he asked. Kim stammered so Madison pressed on. "She is older than any of the gods. She nurtured Zeus and hid him from his father. She is more powerful than most of the gods on the Council; certainly more powerful than Hestia or Dionysus. And unlike Hermes, she is allowed to freely roam all three realms: sky, sea and Underworld. Why wasn't she included in the decision making group?"

"Because no one worshiped her," Kim said.

"Exactly, my lady," Madison said. "Hecate was on the fringes of all the important events. While this fact probably kept her alive, it also meant that very few humans felt her important enough to worship. Therefore, while having the privileges of an Olympian, she was not included on the Council. Humans have more power than you think. If enough humans believe something for long enough, it becomes truth. If enough humans prayed at this stump to one god, eventually that god would be manifest in the stump.

"More to the point, if enough humans believed a certain day was good, it would be infused with the power of good. Likewise with evil. The Winter Solstice is the day that evil is strongest and good is weakest by the sunlight. But if enough people fear a day, that day could have a greater net benefit for someone who would attack Olympus. Friday the 13th for example."

"13th is on a Thursday this December," I said at the same time as Kim. I looked at her strangely. "Hecate was named Trivia during the Roman days. We picked up a talent then," she said.

"Then you'll have to look for another way a day is evil," Madison said. "The book will probably help with that."

"The due date is January 1," Airiana said quickly.

"January 1 is a day that is typically celebrated," Madison said, getting up to take another sip from the pool. "But it would be the best day to start a new era. I'm just not familiar with tales around the first of the year."

"Can you help us with the ship then?" I asked.

"Yes sir, I can," he said. "Do you have time for a story?"

"We're not sure how much time we have," Airiana said.

Madison spread his arms. "Well, life is no fun if you rush through it. Have a seat." Kim flicked her fingers and three chairs formed from a mist that wasn't there earlier. She was really coming in handy. "As you know, Olympus moves with the heart of Western Civilization," Madison began. "When the nation the gods are in goes to war, the gods go to war with it. This is usually not a problem. However, civil wars can be challenging. The gods have to take sides and they don't always choose the same one. This was the case in 1775 when we declared independence from the King of England. Technically it was a civil war. Demeter, Dionysus, Athena, Hephaestus and a few others joined our cause. It helped us keep up with England and eventually helped us win the war. However, once we were independent, they were out voted in the Council and Olympus stayed in London. They were forced to leave us alone.

"Almost immediately there were tensions between England and the United States over trade routes and trade ships. When the new Congress was formed, I was a leader in the House of Representatives. By 1794, England was seizing our trade vessels claiming that we were trading with France and France was seizing them claiming we were trading with England. A bill was passed to create the United States Navy. By 1796, three ships were created: the USS _United States_, the USS _Constellation_ and the USS _Constitution_.

"That's what's in your history books.

"But President Washington had secretly met with all the demigods in the upper federal government over a major problem. There was a large chance that we'd be fighting against Poseidon in any war where the new navy was used. We needed to make sure that Congress wasn't throwing thousands of dollars at ships that would be capsized by a tsunami or dragged under by the Kraken five minutes after leaving harbor. We commissioned campers in Athena and Demeter's cabin to find the trees made from Deucalion's vessel. Deucalion's ship was unbelievably large and we were able to build all three frigates as well as three more a decade later out of the planks." Madison got up and took another drink. They were clearly sustaining his solid form.

"Two of the ships, the _Chesapeake_ and the _President_, were captured during the War of 1812, which I unsuccessfully led as Commander-in-Chief. The British dismantled them as soon as they could get it past Parliament, on order of the gods. The _Congress _was dismantled by the U.S. in 1834. The _Constellation_ was destroyed in 1853 by human error. The _United States _was captured in 1861 by the Confederacy who didn't know what they had. They dissembled it to build an ironclad vessel. The United States attempted to rebuild it once they regained control of the vessel, but they soon realized it wasn't the same. They didn't know its secret. They scraped it in 1865."

"How do you know what happened after you died?" I asked.

"These ships were my babies," Madison said. "I kept up on their progress."

"What happened to the _Constitution_?" Airiana asked.

Madison clapped his hands. "I'm so glad you asked!" he said. "They docked it in Boston harbor in 1881 and it became a museum. A fully functional museum."

"It's still there?" I asked.

"Indeed good sir," Madison said. "Fully functional and on the water only a few miles north of here. It's even facing east."

"What's the catch?" Kim asked.

"Catch?" Madison asked.

"Nothing's that easy for a demigod," Kim said.

"How right you are," Madison said gloomily. "There is one problem with you sailing the _Constitution_: she is still a fully functional United States Navy ship. She comes complete with a full crew of honest to goodness Navy sailors who will not be happy with you borrowing it. But hey, what's a little challenge to a child of Athena right?"

"Grandchild," I said.

"Close enough," he said.

"Alex?" I heard my mother's voice from nearby in the woods.

"It would appear that our time is at an end," Madison said, getting up from his stump. "Thank you my dear for the wonderful sacrifice. It is so good to be solid again, if only for a while. Remember that there are always spirits at your command if you're nice to them."

"You're welcome," Airiana said with a curtsey.

"Daughter of Hecate," Madison said, turning to Kim. "Popularity is not everything. Be who you are, not who they want you to be. Believe me, I tried to be what the people wanted me to be: it is impossible."

"I'll remember that Mr. President," Kim said, copying the curtsey.

"Son of Hera," Madison said, turning to me. "Our families never leave us. Though the sea does not have to obey your command since you were not a direct son of the sea god at your birth, the nymphs still view you as royalty. They could help you if they want and it never hurts to ask."

"Yes, sir," I said with a bow.

"I wish you all the best of luck," Madison said solemnly. "At times of war the quests always get more difficult and this one is no different. Remember that the gods do not send their children on impossible tasks. Stay within yourselves and you stand a chance." Madison bowed to each of us in turn and vanished into thin air.

"There you are," my mother said, walking into the clearing behind us. "Chiron thought you might have left already. Come, there's someone who wants to see you."

* * *

Chiron and Mr. D were sitting in lamplight on the porch of the Big House. Like normal, they were playing pinochle around a square table. Unlike normal, they were not joined by two invisible players. Hermes sat between them as they sat talking with the cards on the table. My mother joined them when we arrived.

"Ah, the trio has finally decided to join the living," Hermes said. "Took you long enough. Mail doesn't stop for a war you know. If anything, it increases."

"I'm sorry, Lord Hermes," I said.

"Sorry?" Hermes asked. "Sorry doesn't cut it. After that debacle in Iowa, you're lucky the gods will still talk to you."

"What debacle in Iowa?" I asked.

"The fight at the school of course," Hermes said.

"Chris attacked the school! That wasn't my fault!" I said.

"Not the attack," Hermes said. He looked me in the eye. "Do not ever ask your father for help again. He does not have the strength of the gods to say no and he will sacrifice the world to save you." Hermes sat back into his seat. "He may already have."

"What do you mean?" Airiana asked. She seemed offended which made me feel a little better.

"Perseus is now fighting his father's war for the ocean. While he was distracted helping you in Iowa, he lost vital ground in the fight; ground that may not be able to be won back. He doesn't need further distractions."

"Will you please stop scolding my child and just deliver the mail?" Mom said, almost controlling her anger.

"I ought to turn you into a rat and feed you to George," Hermes said.

_Rats, I like rats, _George said from Hermes pocket.

_Shut it! _Martha replied.

"And distract Percy as he seeks revenge? I don't think so," Mom said. Mom 2, Hermes 0.

Hermes put down the cards and got up from the table. "I've got godly stuff to do," he said. "Mail's by Thalia's pine. You left it in Iowa." He turned into a falcon and flew out of camp. Mr. D yawned as if he was bored. I turned toward the tree that marked the boundary of Camp Half-Blood. A small blue Honda Fit sat by the pine, facing away from camp. My old car had returned.

"Crass as he can be, Hermes is correct," Chiron said as Hermes' cards were picked up by an invisible hand. "Your father's fatal flaw is loyalty. He will save you if it costs the world. It would be advisable to avoid praying directly to him whenever possible."

"Anyone have something they would suggest actually doing?" I asked in frustration.

"Yes," Chiron said. "Pray indirectly to your father. Address your prayer to the nymphs or your uncle Tyson. That won't distract Percy."

"I also have a gift for you," my Mother said. "It may get you out of a situation without calling on anyone for help. I've left it in the back seat of the car. I'm confident you can use it."

"Airiana, do you feel comfortable driving?" I asked.

"I can handle it," she said. "I took Driver's Ed over the fall. I'll need directions though."

"Hecate is the goddess of the crossroads too," Kim said. "I'm a navigator extraordinaire."

"And that leaves me with plenty of time to study my book," I said.

"And your gift," my mother added.

"And it's still only 7 o'clock. If we leave now, we can be in Boston by midnight," Kim said.


	6. The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men…

A/N: I wrote this chapter and planned the character of Kim before I read the short story in The Demigod Diaries. I really liked Haley's interpretation of Hecate magic and of the Hecate cabin. But it didn't fit into what I had planned, so I kept to my plan. Just know it doesn't follow the Riordan family canon.

I do not own the poem _To a Mouse _by Robert Burns, , Men In Black, Pepsi or Mountain Dew, Pirates of the Caribbean, Robert Ballard, White Star Line, Apple, _Titanic_,

Chapter 6: The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men…

Sure, according to , it takes just over four hours to drive from Long Island to Boston. But we were trying to do it at seven at night. It should have taken us three just to get out of Long Island. But Kim lived up to her statement. She was the Princess of the Crossroads. We zigzagged through Manhattan, found a tunnel that was actually moving, crisscrossed through New York faster than Agent K from MIB and then we were headed northeast on I-95.

Of course I saw almost none of that. My mother had placed a laptop on the back seat of the Honda Fit. The laptop had tons of ports on the back for about seven different kinds of devices, some of which hadn't been invented yet. The laptop was closed with a large, blue Greek delta on the cover. My mother had given me Daedalus' Laptop.

We were out of Manhattan before I figured out where the fingerprint scanner was to open it. New York State was behind us before I cracked the password. My eyes were attacked with vinegar after the first failed attempt. I'm not sure what would have happened on the second try, but I was sure I didn't want to find out.

My mother had set the locks and had designed the password after her favorite idea in fiction: The Ravenclaw Commonroom door. There is no set password. Each time you try to open the laptop you have to answer a different riddle. The riddles in the Harry Potter series are simple things like the ancient sphinx riddle. My mother obviously was not satisfied with that. It asked me "A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment. Why?"

Since I couldn't get to the keyboard, I assumed it had voice recognition. "Because he can only reach the button for the seventh floor but on rainy days he has an umbrella," I said. Airiana looked at me in the rearview mirror with a silent _why are you talking to yourself?_ question. She gave me a _Ah, that's why_ look when the laptop popped open. I explained the riddle to them anyway.

"Why doesn't he just carry a walking stick?" Airiana asked. I didn't have an answer to that. "So what are you going to look up now that you've got it open?" she asked.

I didn't have an answer to that one either.

"Maybe you could look for a way to carry that thing around," Kim said. "We're thirty-five miles from Rhode Island. And judging by the sky, we're going to be lucky to make it to Boston." We were driving along the coast of Long Island Sound and although I couldn't see the water, I could see what Kim was worried about. Lightning flashed across the sky over what seemed like the whole sound. The storm looked vicious and it continued toward the Atlantic for as long as I could see.

"Dad's losing the war," I said. "Triton has started fighting Zeus. This is getting worse."

"Zeus can handle his own," Airiana said, though she sounded more hopeful than confident.

"Looks bad," Kim said. "How long till the storm reaches land?"

"It won't," I said, adding some charmspeak for myself as much as for them.

"What makes you so sure?" Kim asked.

I pointed at a woman walking along the grass near the road, looking up at the sky and muttering. "Because on land, Zeus isn't alone in the fight," I said. Demeter looked at us as we passed before turning and disappearing into the growing fog.

"Looks like my mother left me instructions to turn the laptop into a cell phone," I said, noticing a file marked "For Alex." I read the document and then practiced turning the laptop into a smartphone and back again. The blue delta was the only thing that remained the same but the process seemed like Daedalus had gotten inspiration from Hermes's Caduceus. I could turn the laptop into anything that Hermes could turn Martha and George into.

"We've gotten to where the road turns North," Kim said. "We'll have a bit of land between us and the sea for a bit. Any thoughts on how to steal a U.S. Navy vessel oh grandson of genius?"

"Son of genius," I said, loading up a satellite image of the _Constitution_'s dock. "Don't insult my mother. And no, I haven't gotten any ideas yet."

"Let's assume we can steal it," Airiana said. "How are we going to sail a full sized naval Frigate across the Atlantic with only the three of us? If I'm not mistaken, the _Constitution_ had a slightly larger crew when she was in service."

"Slightly?" I asked. She sent a look through the mirror that made me very happy looks couldn't kill. "Madison said there might be spirits you could call."

"I'm not good enough to summon a hundred," Airiana said. "And Madison also said they're rogue. I can't promise the ability to keep them in line if I did manage to summon them."

"There might be a way to magically put the ship on an autopilot of sorts," Kim said.

"How's that?" I asked.

"Hecate's magic works by writing words or phrases. You've probably seen it on the stones in my cabin," Kim said.

"I have," I said.

"By putting a few words together in key places, I may be able to get the ship to sail itself; kinda like what your father was able to do sailing Blackbeard's ship," Kim said. "I read the story books," she said answering Airiana's questioning look.

"You may be able?" I asked.

"I will be able," she said. "But I'll need light to make sure I get it exactly right."

"So we've got to steel the ship during the day?" I asked.

"No," Kim said. "I can leave one word out to keep the ship in place until we want to leave. But we'll, or I'll, have to get onto the ship during the day before we steal it."

"That should be fun," Airiana said as I clicked a few links on the laptop.

"That should be easy," I said. "There's a guided tour every half hour." I looked east as we finished passing Providence and passed into Massachusetts. "Airiana stop now!" I said, almost jumping out of my seat. The process was completed when she slammed on the breaks. I silently thanked my mother for making me buckle up.

A tornado barely an inch wide dashed over the highway directly where we would have been. It slammed into a passing car on the other side of the highway and sent it tumbling out of sight. I quickly checked to make sure that Airiana and Kim were both okay.

"What was that?" Kim asked after about a minute.

"A storm spirit," I said. "Haven't been seen since the Roman days. They're supposed to be locked deep in Tartarus. Chris must be releasing the worst monsters he can."

"Just like last time," Kim said.

"Just like every time," I said.

"What does that mean exactly?" Airiana asked.

"It means it's time to ignore the speed limits," I said. "We need to get to Boston and into that boat as soon as possible."

Chiron had loaded our bags and a few other necessities into the Fit while my mother had come looking for me. He had also snuck almost a thousand dollars in cash in the glove compartment. The money was enough for two rooms with a connecting door at the Constitution Inn. We were on the third floor and from our window we could see the masts of the _Constitution_ gently floating in the Boston Navy Yard. I stood gazing out of the window while Kim got a crash course on how to sail a Navy Frigate.

"I hate being this close to the military," Airiana said, walking up with a glass of Mountain Dew. I took it and thanked her.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Death," she said. "Those ships have been responsible for so many deaths. Each soul seems to cry from those hulls like the blood of Abel itself."

"What do they want?" I asked.

"Most just want rest," she said. "Some want vengeance."

"Perhaps we can give both," I said. "Provided stealing the ship is enough vengeance."

"Commandeer," she said. "Commandeer, nautical term."

I looked at her and took a drink of Mountain Dew. "Sorry, Captain Sparrow. If we can commandeer the ship."

"Sorry," she said. She took a sip of her Diet Pepsi. "Jayzon must be rubbing off on me."

"So Jayzon gets to rub off on you but I can't even look at Kim?" I asked.

"Don't do that please," Airiana said. "I'm sorry about earlier. I just have trust issues. It's a Persephone thing."

I turned back to the window and she moved to stand next to me. "Getting kidnapped by your husband does that I guess," I said. She laughed.

"So, any ideas on the commandeering front?" she asked.

"Many. Each as unlikely as the next," I said.

She laughed. "Now who's quoting, Dumbledore?" she said. "What you got?"

"Can you shadow travel the three of us from here to the dock just outside the ship?" I asked, turning to look into her eyes.

She looked out the window and took a sip of Diet Pepsi. "I should be able to get us on the ship if you want," she said.

"No," I said, taking a drink myself. "According to the satellite I was viewing earlier they leave at least five sailors on the ship itself at all times. We'll need a diversion of sorts to get them off the ship."

"What kind of diversion?" she asked, turning to me.

"Charmspeak," I said. "I want to do something useful here."

"And if that doesn't work?" she asked.

"Well…how much power will you have left?" I asked.

I'm really glad for magical weapons.

We got in line for the tours right at ten. It had snowed about a centimeter over night, gently covering the dock in white. It would have been picturesque if I wasn't planning on committing a felony that night. The Navy Yard had a small area open for tourists and the first thing you did upon entering the building was go through a metal detector. Luckily, my weapon was a metal toothpick and my laptop looked like an ordinary iphone. Airiana had left Nico's sword in the Hotel, under magical Kim protection, but had brought her sword: a three-and-a-half foot Celestial Bronze sword named _Goliath_ that spent its off time as a ring. Kim's weapon was the only potential problem. It was a magic wooden pen inlaid with Celestial Bronze, eleven inches long. It allowed her to speak a magic word and have the letters appear where the stick was pointing. It sped up the magical process. I tried to make her leave it, but she needed it to do her magic. The guards looked at the stick suspiciously but they let it through.

We turned the corner into the gift shop. It was a long rectangular room with what looked like hardwood floors being used as wallpaper. The actual floor was concrete. There were two levels separated by three small steps. Each level had several displays and shelving on the walls.

The entrance let us out onto the upper level, overlooking the shop. I headed immediately to the large, three-foot long model of the _Constitution_ that stood on a display to our right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Airiana walk over to a book display on the left and Kim walk downstairs to some of the trinket displays.

The model was very detailed, and I couldn't help but marvel at the ancient ship designers. Ship design had always been something that intrigued me: it combined both Athena and Poseidon like nothing else could. Ships and shipwrecks was my only true hobby; at least before I'd gotten claimed and became a real demigod. If Hera hadn't claimed me I have a feeling I'd have become a deep sea explorer like Robert Ballard. Ballard had visited the final resting place of almost every major shipwreck in the 20th Century. He had also discovered the RMS_ Titanic _and the _Bismark _and the USS_ Yorktown_. In short, Robert Ballard was my only non-demigod idol. I'd always believed he was a minor god's child that just was never claimed. Triton had often come to mind.

By eight I could see design flaws in many of the warships Ballard had found. I also spotted many flaws in the ships of the Spanish Armada and a few French ships of the seventeenth century. But looking at this model, I could tell Madison and other children of Athena had designed it to last. The ship was black with white/yellow trim and had its name painted in the white across the flat back. The model showed it in full sail with four American flags flying in the wind: one on each mast and a large one on the back. It was a sleek design, long and narrow and perfectly curved. The ship would have been the fastest in the Atlantic when it rolled out of Boston harbor in 1797. Even being built with double thick walls, it displaced less water than any warship I'd ever seen. I would have stared at the model the whole day if Airiana hadn't come up.

"Thought this might help us," she said, pulling a book out of a gift shop bag. "Cut out diagrams of the ship."

"Nice," I said.

"Hey, while you two were gawking at the merchandise, I've discovered where we're supposed to go for the tour," Kim said, walking back to the upper level. She turned and pointed to a hallway to the left of the register at the bottom of the shop. "Down that hall and out the door. There's a heated tent to wait for the next tour."

We took a seat in the tent overlooking the harbor about ten minutes before the tour. The ship was facing the ocean at our 1 o'clock. I had to describe the clock location system to Kim. Basically my 12 o'clock was directly in front of me. From there directions were described by referring to an analog clock. I then had to explain what an analog clock was. I took the time to point out every landmark I could to Airiana, who would need to see the spot to shadow travel to it. We decided to jump right outside the large anchor at the foot of the ramp to the ship. It would place us near the ship and as far away from the barracks as we could get. Unfortunately for us, the barracks were connected to the gift shop building and not in another part of the yard.

A woman in the navy uniform of the eighteen hundreds walked into the tent. The uniform was a loose shirt (though tight enough to cover everything on her), with blue scarf thingy and white pants with plenty of room to operate on the ship. Apparently they didn't make yoga pants in the eighteen hundreds.

"Welcome aboard," she said. "My name is Jessica Short and I will be your tour guide for the next half hour as we walk around the USS _Constitution_ or Old Ironsides. We'll meet my helper, Zachary Smart when we get on board. The ship got its nickname of Old Ironsides in large part due to its design. It's hard to see from here, but it is built with double walls of one of the hardest woods in the world: live oak trees from right here in New England. During its battle with the HMS _Guthrie_ in the War of 1812, several shots from the _Guthrie_ actually bounced off the sides of the _Constitution_. Thus the name Old Ironsides."

"Not just any oak would have done that," I mumbled. Airiana grunted an agreement.

"The _Constitution_ is remarkably well preserved and is the oldest commissioned warship currently afloat in the world. The HMS _Victory_ is older by 19 years and is still commissioned by the Royal Navy in England but it does not float anymore. We are truly lucky to have the _Constitution_ in such great condition. This title also means that it is crewed by real Navy sailors like myself. The ship is capable of sailing on its own power and has, most recently in 2012. Further, should the United States ever get into a war where the Navy is challenged, we could be called into active fighting. Though, I'm not sure how much help we would be since it would take us months to get to the battle and we only fire blanks.

"Well, enough from me. Let's get onboard!" She clapped her hands and opened the door of the tent. The snow was beginning to sparkle in the sparse sunlight creeping through the clouds. The storm from the night before had died, but there was still a think layer of gray clouds overhead. Winds were gusting as if they were toying with us. After a short thirty-yard walk from the tent we were on the ramp over the bay and then stepped onto the actual ship.

"Big time problem," I said as Kim slipped toward the main mast and pulled out her wand.

"What's that?" Airiana asked.

"Zachary is a demigod," I said. "He hasn't been at camp in a decade, but he was a son of Apollo when I was a baby."

"Will he recognize you?" she asked.

"Probably not," I said. "But the distractions using the mist won't work on him."

"So we'll need more creative distractions," she said as if it was obvious.

He began talking as the group arrived where he was standing. The ship was a three-mast ship, with the main mast being the tallest. Kim had already placed her magic on the main mast but had much more to go. As far as I could tell, Zachary hadn't noticed her yet. The deck was only forty feet wide and it didn't even feel that wide. It rose slightly on the front and back but did not have a step anywhere or a cabin's quarters at the stern. There were four holes in the deck: three around the masts and one for accessing the lower decks. I could see letters appearing all along the hundreds of ropes that extended from the deck to the three masts overhead and even saw some on the crow's nest. The mortals never looked twice at the letters, thinking they were just the sun's reflection. But I could tell the Zachary was registering that something was up as he sang his second sailing song of the tour.

"Let's head below," he sang more than said and headed for the stairs.

"I need to get to the bow," Kim said as she passed and added some spells to the stern.

"What's the bow?" Airiana asked.

"The front," Kim said.

"Race you to the top," I said to Airiana loud enough that I knew Zachary would hear. I bolted toward a rope ladder on the main, central mast. Thankfully, Airiana understood. She ran for the other side and Zachary was forced to stop the tour and scold us. I didn't stop. I was already ten feet up and climbing. Maybe I was confirming to Zachary that I had Camp Half-Blood training, but if Kim got her magic done it would be worth it. I could see the letters appearing in rapid fire on the front mast and Zachary's eyes were on us.

"Get down now or we'll have to shoot," Zachary yelled. Airiana and I figured that was a good time to get down. We grabbed some freestanding rope and swung down to the front of the boat, missing the three lifeboats in the middle. Kim touched her wrist as I passed by: she needed more time. I ran for the front of the boat, but Airiana got there first. I turned her around and grabbed her waste. She got the message and put her arms out like the famous photo from _Titanic_.

"Enough!" Zachary said from directly behind us. "Jessica, escort these two from the base now and arrest them."

"Yes sir," she said.

We allowed ourselves to be walked off the ship and into the gift shop.

"This is really far enough," I said once we were inside. Airiana smiled as she recognized the charmspeak. I was laying it on thick. "We promise we'll just leave from here. Thank you for your help getting off the ship."

"You're welcome," Jessica said, releasing her grip on our arms. "Enjoy the gift shop. Don't forget to get the new gummy ship candy."

"You should get back to your tour," I said.

"I should get back to my tour," she repeated. "Have a nice day." She turned around and walked back out of the shop toward the ship.

We waited across the street from the Navy Yard, and out of site of the ship's deck, for what seemed like an hour before Kim exited the shop and walked up to us.

"Well?" Airiana asked.

"That was brilliant," Kim said. "The _Titanic _thing, nice touch."

"Did it work?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yup. All set for the plan tonight. Thanks to you."

"Then we need to get some rest," I said. "Sleep and meet up in my room at 8 this evening ready for the trip. If all goes well, we'll be sailing by eight thirty."

"And if it doesn't?" Airiana asked.

"We'll be in jail by eight thirty," I said.


	7. …Often Go Awry

I do not own the Princess Bride,

Chapter 7: …Often Go Awry

I thought that the gods were smiling on us as we began. My alarm went off at seven, giving me enough time to pack everything up and get it ready. We'd noticed a small cargo hold below deck and Airiana thought that she could shadow travel our stuff there and back without problem. She knocked on my door at a quarter till eight and took our bags to the ship. Combined we had my backpack, a duffle bag for Airiana and a small suitcase for Kim. Demigods travel light. When she left I took a peek outside and realized that the storm had not returned. I also noticed a thick fog descending on the city from the sea, as if my father was helping hide us. It was a good sign.

She returned and grabbed a quick snack before trying to shadow travel the three of us to the ship. We were all dressed completely in black, and we all had dark hair to boot. Airiana and I wore hoodies and black jeans. Kim had another pair of yoga pants and a black turtleneck sweatshirt that somehow still managed to allow her to move. I was beginning to wonder if she was a curse sent from Aphrodite to play with my love life. Of course, Aphrodite would call it a gift.

We set our hotel key cards on the dresser in the dark room and held hands as Airiana stepped into the nearest shadow. Shadow travel is not really that fun. This was a short trip but it still felt like we were traveling at light speed but forgot the starship in the hotel. When we arrived, stepping out of the shadow of the ship itself, Airiana had to catch her breath and Kim looked like she was going to throw up. I felt sorry for her; it was her first trip by shadow. Thankfully, they didn't make very much noise.

"Something's wrong," I said. "The ramp is always out." The walkway onto the ship had been removed for some reason. I wondered how the people on the ship would get on and off.

"How are we going to get on?" Airiana asked.

"Got it covered," Kim said. She had wrapped her wand in black tape to keep the bronze from sparkling. A flick of the wand caused three ropes to fly silently from the stern to the dock.

"I'll go first and convince the guards to get off," I said, grabbing one of the ropes. Rope climbing training came in handy for the second time that day: Chiron will never let me hear the end of that. I came up on deck ready to convince a guard or two to leave. I climbed up over the stern of the ship and saw no one. The fog seemed thicker on the ship, almost too thick. I couldn't see the bow. Instinctively I pulled _Sabertooth_ out of my pocket, but I didn't turn it. Even in the fog I didn't want to wave the shiny weapon around.

When I reached the bow I knew something was definitely wrong. The fog had seemed to thicken even more. Maybe that was just my mind playing tricks on me. I ran into no one: guard or otherwise. I decided to search the lower decks.

The "stairs" which led from the upper deck down were really more of a fall. It was five steps which looked like a ladder and was steeper than most of the ladders I had seen. The deck had around twenty guns facing out of the ship periodically on both sides. Each of the gun ports were boarded up with decretive covers. No one was on this deck either, so I continued down another set of steep stairs.

This deck was so dark I couldn't see my hand. I turned _Sabertooth, _making it a glowing sword. Airiana's book said that this deck was used for sleeping but the crew had rolled up all but about five of the hammocks. Normally, the whole deck would be cramped with over a hundred hammocks and men sleeping in them at every hour of the day. I was almost to the rear of the ship when I heard screeching outside.

I only slipped twice on my way back up to the top deck, which I thought was pretty good all things considered. I had to duck back under deck as an eagle the size of a small truck swooped down and nearly took my head off. I threw _Sabertooth _at it. The sword didn't turn into a javelin but it still hit the monster, which disintegrated into a firework of golden sparks. I scrambled on deck and ran for the stern, collecting _Sabertooth _on the way.

What I saw made my stomach do summersaults. A second eagle was swooping in on Kim who was standing over Airiana. Airiana's face was bloody and it looked like the eagle had hit her. Blazing letters spelling out "leave" in Greek appeared in the sky and the eagle ran into them. It reared back and squealed very loudly. Kim pulled a bronze dagger from her belt and threw it straight into the eagle. It gave an encore presentation of the fireworks display of gold sparks.

The navy sailors began to come out of the barracks as Kim retrieved the dagger and came back to a stirring Airiana. It looked like Kim may have fed her some ambrosia because her wounds were closing nicely.

"Stop them!" Zachary's voice said from the crowd. The sailors were beginning to register that something was going on and one by one they began to rush the ship.

Airiana got up her rope first. She shook her head at me and turned around with her hand outstretched. Twenty skeleton warriors of all different eras appeared in formation protecting the stern of the ship. There was Greek armor, Egyptian loincloths, Roman togas, medieval knights and British Redcoats. Airiana had left the American soldiers at home, which was probably a good idea. I wasn't sure whose side they'd be on.

The Navy stopped right where they were like they'd seen a ghost, which they kind of had. "Defend the ship. Do not attack!" Airiana said, keeping her arm outstretched. Kim managed to slip onboard. A gun fired off from inside the barracks and hit a Roman soldier. The soldier fell down but quickly got himself back up.

Guns appeared in the hands of most of the sailors silently surrounding the ship. The U.S. Navy, it seems, is always prepared for a fight; even when they're assigned to a ceremonial ship that never leaves Boston harbor. "Get down," I said and Airiana and I both ducked below the wooden railing. She rested her arm on the deck but her face said she was straining to control the skeletons.

"They want to run," she said. "I need Nico's sword. It's in the captain's cabin one deck down."

I turned and ran for the stairs as so many magical words appeared on the ship that it was lighter than day. The ropes of the ship sprang to life, whipping and tightening into place all around the ship. The sails were unfurled and fought for any wind they could find. Kim stood in the middle of the ship waving her wand like she was directing an orchestra. I ducked into the gun deck.

The captain's cabin was separated from the rest of the gun deck at the stern by a massive, white, wooden wall. The wall jutted slightly away from me in the middle with a pair of doors on either side. On the other side of the wall was a long rectangular room with the white wooden walls on both sides. It wasn't the actual captain's cabin, more like a reception area with a large circular table with eight chairs in the middle and benches along the sides. On a bench along the far wall were our bags that Airiana had brought earlier. I opened her duffel bag and grabbed Nico's sword carefully by the handle. Airiana had nicely wrapped the handle in a cloth so others could touch it.

I was almost hit by a bullet when I got to the top deck. Ropes were flying around wildly and I noticed that some had been singed as if a bullet had hit them. That was an impossible shot of course, unless the shooter was a son of Apollo. Zachary must have been sniping from somewhere in the barracks.

"They erased some of the magic!" Kim said, walking up to me.

"Get down," I said. "Zachary's gonna aim for us soon enough."

"The skeletons have been overrun, the Navy's gonna be onboard soon," Airiana said walking up to us. I looked toward the stern in time to see four new grappling hooks appear on the stern.

"Any ideas?" I asked. Airiana looked like the walking dead herself but she nodded her head.

"Give me the sword," she said. I didn't question her. She turned around and looked like she was trying to lift a very heavy object. A rope at the top of the mast snapped and the sail began shaking as it came loose. The ship began to rock as the Navy sailors got closer on their ropes.

Then Airiana fainted.

I checked for vitals and was relieved to discover she was still alive. Kim and I exchanged looks. I drew my sword and she drew her wand.

The fog, which had lessened considerably, suddenly began to swirl all around the ship. I watched in amazement as it collected into human shaped forms, almost a hundred of them. Most of the shapes wore no shirt and very loose pants that looked directly out of the eighteenth century. A couple were wearing shirts that resembled the uniforms that the navy sailors had worn on the tour earlier in the day. All the figures were ghostly white but getting more solid as they swirled into existence.

At the stern was the most interesting of all the spirits. The man was dressed in regal clothing straight out of the Renaissance Fair Catalogue. His shirt had fluffy and padded shoulders without the frilly collar. He wore well-worn tights and black buckle shoes. His hat looked like a fancy cowboy hat with the right side pinned up and a giant feather attached: like he had taken it from one of the eagles that had attacked us. Even in his ghostly state the clothing was taking on a dark blue color. But most striking and strangest of all were the chains. His entire body had been wrapped in large chains, as if someone had wrapped him in an anchor.

The chains didn't slow him as he walked to the stern of the ship and smiled down at the climbing sailors. "Good evening," he said loud enough that I could hear him from halfway down the ship. "You won't be joining us today. Try again tomorrow. Oh, and tell the President that the Dread Pirate Roberts says hello." He pulled a small dagger from a sheath on his belt and cut each of the ropes leading down to the shore with a single stroke. He turned around with a wicked smile as splashing sounds were heard off the stern. "Trim those sails and make way!" he yelled.

The crew responded in record time, running up the ropes and tying them down, bringing the sails taught and catching the wind. Shots rang out from the shore as the large ship slowly began to move into the harbor.

"Coast Guard," Kim said, pointing off the port, or left, side. Sure enough, three Coast Guard cutters, small but very fast motorboats complete with about ten sailors, had left the outer docks and were moving to intercept.

_Hera_, I thought. _Mom. Or whatever. Sorry to bother you, but if you can convince Zeus to give us a good wind I think now would be a really good time for it. Um, I'm not quite sure who to sacrifice to._

Nothing happened.

"Stop!" a sailor on the nearest cutter yelled out via megaphone. Yea, like that was going to happen. "You are under arrest by the authority of the United States Navy. Take up sails and stop immediately!" The _Constitution_ was picking up speed but the cutters were way faster. In a few minutes, they would cut off any hope of escape we had.

The temperature dropped thirty degrees. "Mortals, get below decks!" the ghost in fancy clothing and chains said. Kim and I obliged, dragging the still unconscious Airiana with us. Almost like it was waiting for us, a huge gust of wind raked across the harbor from behind the ship. The ship lurched forward, knocking Kim and I off our feet and into one of the ship's support columns. Several of the ghostly sailors fell past the open gun ports, but I had a feeling they would simply reform on deck. The wind kept up at a steady pace of almost seventy miles an hour but once I got a feel for it I poked my head back over the top deck. I smiled as I watched the Coast Guard ships struggle against the wind and waves. They were fast, but now the harbor was washing over their decks and causing them to turn and face the waves. Ten minutes later we were sailing at high speed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Airiana stirred and we took her to a small cot in the captain's actual cabin; just behind the second wooden wall. A ghostly medic appeared (now very solid) and said he would look after the Princess of Ghosts. I went back on top deck.

The wind had died down considerably but we were still traveling at what I guessed was about twenty knots: faster than the _Constitution_ could go without divine help but still much slower than the Navy's fastest modern warships. I walked up to the ghost in chains. "Thank you," I said.

"Anything for the Princess of Ghosts," the man said.

"You mean Airiana?" I asked.

"Indeed," the man said. "Daughter of Hades and Persephone. The real heir to the throne of the Underworld. My crew and I decided to support her, and by extension you, in this war."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Bartholomew Roberts," he said, taking off his hat and bowing low. "I sailed the Atlantic as a pirate captain from 1719 to 1722, almost twice as long as Blackbeard."

"So you really are the Dread Pirate Roberts," I said.

"I like to believe they modeled the character off me," he said. "I took the title whether they did or not."

"You ever sail something like this?" I asked. I knew that Pirates usually sailed small ships that were faster and easier to maneuver.

"Nope," Roberts said. "Robinson!" he yelled. A ghost in full uniform walked over to him.

"Yes," he said.

"You still remember where that old shipwreck of ours was?" Roberts asked.

"Aye," Robinson said.

"Then take us there," Roberts said. He handed the wheel to Robinson and then motioned me forward. "I typically used sloops. Though I did capture a Man-o-War once. It was too large for our typical missions though." We walked toward the stairs down and entered the gun deck.

"You can take us across the Atlantic though?" I asked hopefully.

"Aye," Roberts said, entering the captain's lounge as I was now calling the front meeting room. "But we'll need to make some repairs first. The ship is ceremonial. It needs some work to become a warship again."

"What kind of work?" I asked as we walked into the cabin. The doctor was feeding tiny pieces of ambrosia to Airiana who looked to be sleeping peacefully on the cot.

"Brave thing she did," Roberts said. "Tried to summon a whole crew with no energy to start with. She's lucky to be alive really."

"It worked," Kim said. She was sitting at a chair facing away from an eighteenth century writing desk.

"Sort of," Roberts said. "Her summons acted as a kind of beacon for us to follow." He motioned for me to sit as well.

"What work did you need to do?" I repeated as I sat next to Kim.

Roberts pulled a chair from thin air and sat opposite Kim and I. "The ship has no food or water. That's not a problem for us, but you'd probably die on the voyage. Also, it has no extra items for repair. If we rip a sail on the voyage; there's no way to fix it or replace it. Not a problem if you're always close to Boston harbor but for us, well it's a complication."

"Will replacing the sails make us venerable?" I asked. "This is Deucalion's ship. It protects us from the gods. Specifically Triton and Chris."

"It's the wood that protects you," Roberts said. "The sails are extras. And it's old Beard Face you want to watch out for."

"Beard Face?" Kim asked.

"Don't you know who's leading this whole thing?" Roberts asked.

"Only that it's a son of Zeus," I said.

"It's _the_ son of Zeus," Roberts said.

"Hercules?" Kim asked.

"No," Roberts said. "He's too busy moping. No, the leader is King Minos. Old pointy beard himself. Now that Daedalus is dead and back in his service, he's set his sights on being ruler of the world again. Nash has brought him back to life so he'll have some powers over the sky. But he's not a god yet. Which means _he _can still hurt you."

"So we'll watch for him. How long to get those supplies?" I asked.

"That won't take long," Roberts said. "Maybe a few hours. But that's not all that needs to be done."

"What else needs done?" Kim asked.

"Those guns out there are replicas," Roberts said. "Couldn't fire a regular cannonball let alone Celestial Bronze ones. Robinson is sailing us to a wreck of one of our earlier ships. The ship has ten Celestial Bronze cannons and plenty of Celestial Bronze cannonballs. We'll need an hour to get them and bring them back. But we'll need to find a port to install them and fix the gun ports. If this really is Deucalion's ship; we'll have to salvage parts of the ship to make the functional gun ports. It'll take one to two days."

"We can't stay in a port for that long. The Mist won't hide this thing from the U.S. Navy," Kim said.

"Then we go someplace the U.S. can't," I said.

"Where?" Kim asked.

I smiled. "Cuba."


	8. We Have the Right to Remain Silent

I do not own Cat Woman, Star Wars, The Princess Bride,

Chapter 8: We Have the Right to Remain Silent

I waited until we were safely past New York harbor before finally relaxing and taking my turn at sleeping. In the interim Airiana regained consciousness and was introduced to the crew that was idolizing her. She was very humble in accepting a royal position on the ship. I may have been the leader of the quest, but she was clearly the Captain. She took the on deck watch as the sun went up and I went down to take a nap.

The Berth Deck, at least that's what Airiana's book called it, was just below the Gun Deck. It was the long empty deck with a few hammocks strung up that I had visited while searching the ship for guards. The deck was at the waterline and I could hear the waves pass the ship. But I choose the deck for two reasons. First, being near the water, it was actually the deck that moved the least. I was doing better than Kim who had pucked over the side three times already, but I was still not feeling too well. The second reason I picked the deck was that it was pitch black: there were no windows on the waterline. I would be able to sleep during the day here.

I switched _Sabertooth_ into _gladius_ mode for light and found a hammock. It took three tries (and some help from a friendly local ghost) but I finally managed to get in. Once inside it wrapped me like a cocoon. It was surprisingly comfortable and I fell asleep within minutes.

I immediately wished I hadn't. Demigods rarely got to have normal dreams and I had a feeling it was worse during a quest. This dream set me floating above what I recognized as the Underworld throne room. I had been there six months prior but now it looked almost nothing like it had back then.

Hades had built his palace to resemble the original throne room on Olympus. It was huge, with a massive entry hallway leading to the main throne room. Hades' throne was six feet tall and set up on the far side of the entrance, raised on a pedestal to look down on the room. His throne was made of human bones fused together to form the massive seat. Next to his throne was another six foot tall throne made of interwoven vines: Persephone's throne. The vines appeared to be strong and alive, but they were brown. It was like they were mourning the death of their goddess. Persephone's throne was empty but Christopher Nash sat on Hades' throne. He was normal size so it looked really weird for him to be on the throne. He was wearing a Navy Blue suit with a white tie: very unHades like.

In front of the thrones was a long line of chairs filled with people I recognized. Opposite Chris was a single, large but still human sized chair with the very solid and fleshy form of King Minos of Crete. I had met King Minos in the Judgment Pavilion and would recognize the triangle beard anywhere. Especially now that he had been identified as the ringleader. He was wearing a bright blue robe and sat regally like it was easy.

To Menos' left was another spirit I had met in the Judgment Pavilion. Andrew Jackson had abandoned his Presidential robes and had donned a blood-red robe like a true son of Ares. He also had his weapon resting on his lap like he was ready to use it at any moment. The weapon was a colt pistol that I guessed was set up to fire Celestial Bronze bullets.

Next to Jackson and at Chris' right hand was Chris' girlfriend: Lily Harper. She was a daughter of Hermes and had taken to wearing a black spandex suit that looked like a Cat Woman outfit. Hermes may be the god of travelers and messengers but clearly she liked the god of thieves thing better. Last summer she had been the one who actually stole Hades' sword.

To Minos' right were three figures. Daedalus sat closest to Minos in a very ordinary looking chair. He wore a tailored gray suit and appeared very at ease, checking his fingernails while simultaneously operating what looked like an iphone. I checked for his laptop, which was still in phone mode, but I knew it was safe on the ship. Or at least it should be.

In the middle was Michael Yew. Yew was a son of Apollo and had fought alongside my father in the Battle of Manhattan. I had to assume he blamed the gods for his death. He wore a bright yellow t-shirt and jeans and looked like he had a permanent smile on his face. The twinkle in his eye reminded me eerily of his father.

Finally, a shorter woman sat in the final seat. I had met this lady upon returning from the Underworld and was still angry that she was here. Zoë Nightshade had been the Lieutenant of Artemis for two thousand years. Her soul carried the powers of Artemis into the Underworld. But she had blamed the goddess for not saving her during the Second Titan War and, in my opinion, was jealous of Thalia's rise to replace her.

Conspicuous by his absence was Triton.

"They escaped," Minos said.

"I told you to send an agent to intercept them," Daedalus said without looking up.

"It was protected enough," Minos said. "The gods broke their own laws or the ship would never have left port. We will break the laws as well."

"I cannot touch them on the boat," Chris said.

"Indeed," Zoë said. "But we can."

"Provided we can get to them," Lily said. "It will be impossible to chart their course with the Navy chasing them."

"I can follow them," Zoë said. "They'll have to stop eventually. I'll take them on then."

"Alone?" Minos asked.

"Of course," Zoë said. "I'll bring along my dragon." My heart skipped a beat with the word _dragon_.

"The Prophecy does say the dragon will follow them," Michael said.

"I've got a better idea," Daedalus said.

"You always have a better idea," Andrew Jackson said. The others couldn't help laughing except for Minos. Even Daedalus cracked a smile.

"See, you're learning," he said. "We don't need to follow him, My Lord. We know where he's going. We can wait for him at the Mount."

Minos sat back with the best poker face I had ever seen. No one dared interrupt him. "We will do both," Minos finally said. "Chris, you will wait for them in Jerusalem. Zoë, hunt them. But don't attack alone. Even with your dragon you can be beaten by their crew."

"I do not wish to be alone in Jerusalem," Chris said. "Some spirits are hostile there."

"What do you want?" Minos said.

"I wish to take Michael with me. Together, day and night, we are unstoppable."

"Very well," Minos said.

An unseen force almost immediately pulled me back. I managed a peek over my shoulder before I was rushed into a large cavern along the walls of the Fields of Asphodel. The cavern had a small patch of ground before falling into a bottomless pit that looked like a gaping mouth. Even in a dream I recognized the unmistakable and irresistible pull of Tartarus.

Just when I thought I would be pulled into the cavern I heard a raspy breath from inside. It sounded like a person with really bad bronchitis and who was loosing their voice trying to sing an opera. The breathing stopped for a minute before a second, larger breath. Finally a voice barely recognizable as male spoke. The voice had to pause between each strained sentence. "You see their plan. You must stop them. Take the helm to my daughter. Do not fail!"

I awoke to the sounds of rushed footsteps and shouted orders from somewhere above me. Somehow I had stayed in the hammock throughout the nightmare, but I slipped right out when I wanted to. Even before I got to the stairs I knew something was different. There was a golden glow on the stairs; and it wasn't sunlight.

I emerged onto the Gun Deck and saw our ghostly crew rolling bright cannons made from pure Celestial Bronze into place in front of closed gun ports. There were already six cannons on the deck, three on each side. Clearly we had arrived at the shipwreck Robinson was leading us to. The old, ceremonial, black cannons were being carried by four soldiers back up the stairs to the top deck. I caught the eyes of one of the ghosts, I think he was called Rodriguez. He was plump yet fit and had a sparkle in his eye that reminded me I was dealing with souls and not zombies. He smiled at me and said "I think they need you topside." Then he joined his three friends in moving a black cannon toward the stairs. They stopped to let me through.

Once I had adjusted to the sunlight, the first thing I noticed was that we were stopped. The sails were rolled up but Captain Roberts was somehow holding the ship in place without the benefit of the anchor. The second thing I noticed was that the ghosts were jumping overboard while still holding their cannons. A minute later a group of four sailors appeared from the water dragging a bronze cannon up what appeared to be a makeshift plank which extended into the ocean on our Starboard, or right, side. The ten foot wide board was glowing, a clear indication that Kim had magically strengthened it.

The third thing I noticed was that Airiana was kneeling and had stabbed the ship about an inch deep with Nico's sword near the main mast. She was concentrating very hard and it showed on her face. Finally, I spotted Kim standing at the stern looking behind the ship.

"What is Airiana doing?" I asked walking up beside her.

"The crew is tied to the ship itself," Kim said, turning around to face me. "While they are on the ship, they exist in their solid form by drawing power from the ship itself. But when they step off the ship they begin to dissolve back into their spirit-like form. In order to carry the cannons up from the wreck below, Airiana must keep their physical forms in place."

"So why did Rodriguez say I was needed up here?" I asked, more to myself than to Kim.

"Because of them," Roberts said, taking his hand off the wheel long enough to point over the stern. There was nothing on the ocean for as far as I could see, except a small line of islands near the western horizon, but I knew exactly what he was pointing to. A black helicopter was flying soundlessly toward the ship. It passed overhead, made a sharp U-turn and then flew back out in the direction it came. Almost like it was leading something.

"It won't be long before the Navy shows up," Kim said, turning back to look over the stern.

"Nope," I said. "Any ideas? We can't go toe to toe with a modern warship using the technology of 1800 and weapons that won't attack mortals."

"We need another hour to finish getting the guns off the _Adventure_," Roberts said.

"The Navy will be here in an hour," I said, turning back to Roberts. "Wait, the _Adventure_? Blackbeard's last ship?"

"Well, not really," Roberts said. "When Blackbeard disappeared with the _Queen Anne's Revenge _into the Sea of Monsters, one of his Lieutenants took command of the fleet. He made the _Adventure _his flagship and made these Bronze cannons to attack British ships, many of which prayed to Poseidon for protection. Within two months, two British ships found him and defeated the _Adventure _in a fierce battle. The British looted the ship for repairs then, believing the Celestial Bronze cannons to be worthless when they were fighting mortals, sent the ship into the ocean.

"Robinson was aboard the _Adventure _that day and was killed. His spirit stayed with the ship until the civil war. He joined a passing Confederate ship, took it to shore and traveled to the Underworld, which was in Texas at the time. I met him there."

"They're here," Kim said, bringing my attention back to the problem at hand. I looked out over the stern and noticed a shining silver ship on the horizon and approaching fast.

"Still need 45 minutes," Roberts said.

"We can't defeat that ship in battle," I said.

"Oh, they won't attack us," Roberts said. "Not yet."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"Honor," Roberts said. "They probably haven't even allowed the fact that their ship is missing to be leaked out. If they fire on us then the citizens on those islands will know that the _Constitution _isn't just out on a test drive. They'll try to take the ship back quietly until circumstances force them to do otherwise. They are overconfident in that technological advantage."

"They should be overconfident," Kim said.

Roberts left the wheel, which surprised me. "We have an advantage that evens the fight."

"What's that?" I asked.

"That is a hunk of steel and wires," Roberts said. "This is not. But she IS a demigod ship with four demigods on board. And we have powers that technology will never give them."

"You're a demigod?" Kim asked.

"Son of Hermes," Roberts said. "Travelers and thieves: the perfect combination for a pirate. I'll keep the ship where she needs to be. You two keep them off the ship." He offered us his telescope: a three tiered one that looked like it was right out of Hollywood, and returned to the wheel while Kim and I turned to face the ship which was almost halfway here. Kim extended the telescope and looked through.

"_21_," she said. "What kind of a name is _21_?"

"It's a classification number," I said. "21 is the USS _New York_. It's a transport ship, minimal guns but lots of troops. Just the kind of ship to take the _Constitution _back silently. You made chairs out of the Mist when we were talking to President Madison. How good are you at manipulating the Mist?"

"It's one of Hecate's powers but I'm not very good at it," Kim said.

"Give it a try while I think of something else," I said. "Try to make this ship look like a fishing boat or something."

Kim closed her eyes and relaxed her shoulders like she was preparing to meditate. Then she opened her eyes with a very determined look and snapped both her hands.

The air shifted as the Mist physically changed around us. I knew that the ship itself, being a titan creation for a demigod and rebuilt by demigods, would be creating a Mist of its own. I hoped that was going to be enough to help Kim.

The _Constitution _flashed into a smaller shape for even my eyes but the _New York _never even stopped. I guess Navy sailors have just seen too much. They'll believe anything. She motored next to us, stopping about ten feet off our port, or left, side. The last cannon was brought up the plank and they crew pulled the plank back onto the ship.

"Halt!" a sailor said through a megaphone. "You will surrender your ship and be transported back to Boston in custody. You have the right to remain silent-"

"Can I help you sir?" I interrupted with my calmest, kindest and most innocent voice possible. I knew that the Mist would still be hovering around the ship. I decided to try and add some charmspeak to the illusion.

"You will surrender your ship," he started again.

"You must be looking for something," I said, putting all my effort into it. "We'd be glad to help you look for whatever you're looking for."

"We've been looking for your ship," the sailor said. "You will surrender."

"This isn't the ship you're looking for," I said.

"Oh," the sailor said. "Perhaps you can help us." The megaphone went silent for a few seconds before a female, older sounding voice came on. "Nice try. You will surrender your ship."

"But this is our ship," I said. "You're looking for your ship I think."

The lady sighed. "You will surrender our ship,"

"You wish to surrender your ship? Why thank you," I said quickly.

"Ugh! Surrender now!" she screamed. She may not have been fooled by the charmspeak, at least not completely, but I was thwarting her plans.

"You keep using that word," I said. "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"To fight is suicide," the woman said.

"No to surrender is suicide," I said. "You're under orders not to fire on us." I smiled as wickedly as I could. "We've got spies in the Government, what makes you think we don't have agents aboard your ship. You don't want to risk a battle. Just tell your superiors you couldn't find us." The paragraph took all the energy I could muster. I knew I couldn't muster more force behind the charmspeak. If this one didn't work, we'd need to change tactics and I was out of ideas.

The silence that followed my statement gave me hope that I had been successful. Then the _New York_'s engines began to rumble. "You have no weapons and we're a modern warship. You beating us in a fight is inconceivable. We'll beat you with the smallest guns we have." They began to pull away.

I knew they'd wrap around in a large arc until they were a hundred yards or so off our side. Then they'd fire on our sails, trapping us in place.

"Full sail!" Airiana screamed from the middle of the ship. I briefly registered that she was standing again before the crew's activity almost knocked me off my feet. They reacted to her like she was the Captain.

I fought my way to Roberts, who had taken the wheel. His eyes were shifting from the sails to the _New York_, which was already halfway through the turn. "We can't win a fight," I said, adding calmness to my words more for my benefit than his. He was already dead; dying didn't mean anything to him. "Regular cannonballs will bounce off her and Celestial Bronze will go right through it."

"We need Greek Fire," Roberts said. The ship had begun to move, but it wasn't going to get moving fast enough to get out of range of the _New York_'s guns. A couple of bolts of fire emerged from the _New York_. The water splashed off our stern. I didn't even hear the sound of the gun. They weren't kidding; they could attack us silently.

"At least they're bad shots," I said.

"They're gaging the wind," Roberts said. "The next shot won't miss. And they're in range for that shot...now."

Three shots fired from the _New York_. The shots cut through our rigging like a hot knife through butter. One of the sails on the main mast came loose, the burning ropes flailing around the top deck. A second round of shots emitted from the _New York_.

I fell to starboard as the ship lurched hard and seemed to drop down ten feet. I heard the _New York_'s shots fly harmlessly over the ship. Then a massive, thirty foot high wave crashed over the ship headed toward the _New York_. As the wave passed over I saw the familiar face of Tyson, my Uncle, surfing the wave and screaming something that suspiciously sounded like "Peanut Butter!"

We were wet, but Tyson worked for the gods and the gods couldn't hurt our ship. Everyone stayed on board and the wave didn't hurt anything on our ship. I got up in time to watch the wave rush toward the _New York_. It rolled through where the ship had been and then keep traveling, slowly shrinking until there was nothing left. There was no sign of the _New York_.

I turned to Airiana in alarm, silently asking her if we'd just witnessed the sinking of the USS _New York_. She shook her head. "They're not dead," she said, just enough for me and Roberts to hear.

"They'll be out of commission for a while though," Roberts said. "We should get moving. My lady, if you like, we can be in Cuba by tomorrow morning."

"That fast?" I asked.

"The ship continued to accelerate as we moved along. Between Zeus's help and my navigation abilities, we can get this thing rolling," Roberts said. "I can go even faster if one of you can repair that sail."

"I can fix it," Kim said, coming back over. "Mending a cut rope is rookie magic."

"So, my lady the flower queen," I asked. She smiled. As much as she claimed to hate the name she always smiled at it. "Cuba?"

Airiana yawned. "Sounds great to me. Now if you excuse me, I need to sleep. That took it out of me again."


End file.
